The Telegraph
Phone hacking: pressure in United States to investigate News Corporation
Exclusive: A powerful Senate committee chairman has said that phone hacking raises "serious questions" about whether Rupert Murdoch's News Corp "has broken United States law".
By Toby Harnden
The statement by Senator Jay Rockefeller, a White House ally and Democratic chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, dramatically raises the stakes for Mr Murdoch by signaling potential legal repercussions in America.
"The reported hacking by News Corporation newspapers against a range of individuals - including children - is offensive and a serious breach of journalistic ethics," he said in a statement issued following inquiries by The Daily Telegraph.
"This raises serious questions about whether the company has broken US law, and I encourage the appropriate agencies to investigate to ensure that Americans have not had their privacy violated.
"I am concerned that the admitted phone hacking in London by the News Corp. may have extended to 9/11 victims or other Americans. If they did, the consequences will be severe."
US ethics earlier on Tuesday called on the Senate and House of Representatives to investigate the parent company of News International and hold “thorough public hearings” on whether the voicemails of Americans had been hacked.
One group has even written to the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) and the FBI calling for investigations into possible breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Under the FCPA, it is a crime for any American-linked company to bribe foreign officials to obtain or keep business.
Kevin Zeese, a lawyer acting for the group ProtectOurElections.org, said: “Rupert Murdoch moved to the US and became an American citizen in 1985 in order to take advantage of our laws.”
Thus far, Congress is maintaining a watching brief on the issue and waiting for the tide of revelations in Britain to subside.
“We’re keeping an eye on the situation, but are not planning on looking into it at this time,” said Jodi Seth, press secretary of Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate sub-committee on communications.
“For now, all that is certain is that there was hacking in Britain, which is outside of our jurisdiction.”
Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said that congressional investigations were essential because it was evident there was a culture of corruption within News Corp.
“It’s hard to imagine that the same things have not been happening in the United States.”
The tipping point, she added, would be if it became apparent that the phones of Americans had been hacked.
“Republicans are very tied to Murdoch but not at the expense of constituencies of Americans such as terror victims and soldiers,” she said.
She also noted that Les Hinton, the Dow Jones chief executive, and Robert Thomson, the Wall Street Journal editor, were former senior figures in News International.
A former US government official said that the SEC, the federal regulatory agency that oversees the securities industry and stock exchanges, was very likely to look into whether News Corp had violated the FCPA.
The alleged bribing of police officers protecting the Royal family and a claim by the Daily Mirror that News of the World reporters had also tried to pay a New York police officer to access the phone records of victims of the September 11 attacks could have repercussions on News Corp in the US.
At a minimum, the company could be at risk for violating laws on accurate accounting or reporting if it could be proved there were bribes paid, according to legal experts. News Corp shares trade on the Nasdaq and it files its financial reports with the SEC.
“It’s difficult for enforcement agencies not to look into cases that are so public because a big part of their role is deterrence,” said Alexandra Wrage, president of the firm Trace, which helps companies comply with anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws.
Most of Mr Murdoch’s News Corp empire comprises Fox News, which has widespread reach particularly among conservatives, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and 20th Century Fox, the film studio.
It also has 27 television stations that cover 40 per cent of the country and have to be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. The licences can be challenged when they come up for renewal. Criminal convictions or making misrepresentations to any government agency could lead to licences being revoked.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8633406/Phone-hacking-pressure-in-United-States-to-investigate-News-Corporation.html
No comments:
Post a Comment