(Reuters) – Rebekah Brooks, a former top lieutenant in
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, will learn on Tuesday whether she will be charged as part of a
phone-hacking scandal at one of his British newspapers.
leaves after giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into the ethics and practices of the media at the
High Court in central London May 11, 2012. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
Police launched an investigation in January last year
into allegations that journalists at the News of the World tabloid regularly hacked the voicemails of
phones of people from celebrities and politicians to victims of crime.
More than 40 people,
including Brooks and Prime Minister David Cameron’s former media chief, have since been arrested by
detectives investigating whether staff hacked into computers and made payments to public officials,
including the police, to get exclusive stories.
Last month, police handed prosecutors four files
of evidence against 11 suspects to see if charges should be brought against them over possible offences
including perverting the course of justice and interception of communications.
Brooks, former
chief executive of News International, News Corp’s British newspaper arm, and an ex-editor of the News
of the World, will learn tomorrow if she will be charged.
Her husband Charlie, a race horse
owner and columnist, and five other non-journalists will also learn their fate. If charged, they will
be the first to face criminal prosecutions over a scandal which has rocked the British
establishment.
It would not only be potentially damaging to Murdoch’s News Corp empire but also
embarrassing for Cameron, who is close friends of Brooks and her husband, with whom he went to one of
the most elite British schools.
“They are both answering (police) bail dates tomorrow. I can’t
say if they’ll be charged or not,” Brooks’s spokesman told Reuters.
In addition to the
allegations of perverting the course of justice, a serious offence which carries a maximum penalty of a
life prison term, Rebekah Brooks has been arrested on suspicion of phone-hacking and
corruption.
However, detectives have not concluded their investigations into the latter
allegations.
In a statement to a public inquiry into media ethics last week, Brooks, who quit
last July as the phone-hacking furor engulfed News International, said she was horrified by revelations
about the News of the World.
She told the inquiry that she had close contacts with politicians
even though the hacking scandal was gathering steam, and Cameron was among those who indirectly
conveyed sympathy to her when she resigned.
(Editing by Maria
Golovnina)