Published: May 4, 2012
British Government Seeks Special Status at Hacking Inquiry
By RAVI SOMAIYA and ALAN COWELL
Published: May 4, 2012
LONDON — Days before two former executives at Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers here are to testify at a judicial inquiry into Britain’s phone hacking scandal, the government of Prime Minister David Cameron
applied to the panel on Friday for a special status that would yield
advance access to witness statements and the ability to question
testimony.
On its Web site,
the inquiry said it would hold a previously unscheduled hearing later
on Friday to hear a government request to be accorded what is called
core participant status, given to those who have a special interest in
the outcome of the hearings.
The inquiry, headed by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, lists 10 individuals
and groups — including victims of phone hacking — who have been given
the special status. They include News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
John Toker, a spokesman for the inquiry, said core participant status
would give the government the right to see documents and witness
statements in advance and enable it to question other witnesses through
its lawyers. Core participants may also discussion redactions in
material to be published on the inquiry’s Web site.
But, he said, the inquiry imposes strict conditions and, for instance,
requires core participants to sign confidentiality agreements to prevent
premature disclosure of material provided to them.
According to its Web site, the status is available to those who “played a
direct and significant role” in the scandal, had a “significant
interest” in the hearings or “may be subject to explicit or significant
criticism during the inquiry proceedings or in its report.”
The inquiry scheduled its session on the government’s request days before Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, pivotal figures in the phone hacking scandal with strong links to Prime Minister David Cameron, are set to give evidence next week.
Mr. Coulson, who resigned as the editor of the tabloid The News of the World,
which was at the center of the scandal in 2007 and was closed last year
by Mr. Murdoch, became a senior adviser to Mr. Cameron before being
forced to step down last year.
He was arrested and later released on suspicion of conspiracy in the
hacking case and of corruption in approving payments from journalists to
public officials.
Ms. Brooks, who was chief executive of Mr. Murdoch’s British newspaper
company News International, also has close ties to Mr. Cameron and is
already listed as a core participant in the inquiry.
She was also arrested on the same grounds as Mr. Coulson and on suspicion of obstructing justice.
The appearances are likely to deepen scrutiny of the links — described
by critics as improperly close — between Mr. Murdoch’s media empire and
Mr. Cameron’s government. Separately, a former Scotland Yard special
operations officer was arrested “on suspicion of misconduct in a public
office” as part of Operation Elveden, the investigation into payments to
public officials, police officials said.
The arrest was made, police officials said, as a result of information provided by Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation.
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