Police Investigate Rupert Murdoch Secret Tape
U.K. detectives are investigating media mogul Rupert Murdoch over a secret recording of comments he made berating a police inquiry into alleged crimes committed at his British newspapers.
According to a report in The Guardian, London’s Metropolitan police want access to the recording — where Murdoch made comments about the investigation in an internal meeting with journos from tabloid paper The Sun — as part of the official Operation Elveden inquiry into corrupt payments to public officials.
Assistant commissioner Cressida Dick said to members of Parliament on Tuesday: “We are seeking to obtain the tape of the meeting during which Rupert Murdoch appears to have been recorded. We will then assess the full contents of that tape.”
Dick declined to elaborate further on whether police had already obtained the tape or whether they were seeking a court order.
Exaro News, the website that published parts of the recording, said it was arranging to supply evidence to Operation Elveden and were giving the Met the three audio clips that had been published on its site.
The latest development in the scandal comes as Murdoch was invited to come back to Parliament on Tuesday to clarify evidence that he gave the select committee last year.
In a statement issued by News Corp. on Tuesday, the company said the media giant “welcomes the opportunity to return to the Select Committee and answer their questions.”
Last week, Murdoch came under fire after the leaked tape exposed the 82 year-old telling employees that payments for news tips from police had “been going on a hundred years.”
He reportedly said to Sun staffers: “You didn’t instigate it.”
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