Following the News Corp Parliament hearing this week, we were, arguably, left with more questions
thatanswers. Rupert Murdoch claimed ignorance on a vast array of subjects, to the extent that some (i.e. most) people watching the proceedings probably wondered if he had gone senile — or worse. But by the end, it was clear that many of his vague non-denials were less about octogenarian bumbling and more due to his fancy footwork. The guy wouldn’t even definitively confirm whether he shut down News of the World due to criminality or not.
So, who really holds the key to what happened during the alleged string of News Corp hacking scandals? The safe bet is that it’s Harbottle & Lewis.
Let’s review.
There have been widespread reports that News Corp was funneling information indirectly related to the News of the World scandal to the London-based law firm Harbottle & Lewis. This alleged evidence reportedly “included revelations” of News of the World’s paid off of police officers, according to the New York Times. Allegedly, reportedly — these are key words, since people outside the firm haven’t seen these documents. But, according to reports, News Corp had the evidence that it turned over for four years, finally giving it in to police this past June (they claim a re-review of the documents in April influenced this decision).
As the Times pointed out, the members of Parliament on the panel this week had (understandably) pressed James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks on this evidence that was submitted to Harbottle & Lewis for their review and (it would seem) counsel.
So, you could imagine the surprise of some of the folks over at Harbottle & Lewis, when the younger Murdoch and Brooks claimed to have found out about the police-bribing aspects of the Harbottle evidence this past spring. What their exact gripe is right now is unclear — but the law firm has hinted that it has information that could directly contradict these statements, according to the Times: