Post date: Nov 20, 2012 3:32:49 PM
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, two former British media heads, are charged with illegally paying officials.
LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE - JULY 2011) (REUTERS) - British prosecutors said on Tuesday (November 20) they would charge Prime Minister David Cameron's former media chief Andy Coulson with conspiring to pay public officials to secure the contact details of members of the Royal family.
The charges stem from a wider investigation into the British press that was sparked by revelations that journalists at Coulson's former tabloid, the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World, had hacked into phones to secure salacious stories.Coulson was editor of the News of the World from 2003 to 2007 before he took over as Cameron's spokesman from 2007 to 2011, and the latest charges are likely to pose yet more difficult questions for Cameron over his judgement in hiring Coulson in the first place.
Another friend of Cameron's, Murdoch's former British newspaper boss Rebekah Brooks, was also told on Tuesday that she would be also charged with conspiring to make payments to public officials.
Brooks and Coulson have already been charged in connection with phone-hacking offences - the original crime that sent shockwaves through the British political establishment and exposed the close ties between government and sections of the media.
Brooks, a close friend of Cameron, has also been charged along with her husband and staff over allegations that she sought to interfere with the police investigation.
British police began investigating the conduct of the press last year after it emerged that staff at Murdoch's News of the World had hacked into phones on an industrial scale.
Facing a public backlash, Murdoch closed the mass-selling Sunday title last year and formed an internal committee to cooperate with the police.
Police have since arrested 52 people in connection with making payments to public officials, including staff from Murdoch's daily Sun newspaper, the police and a member of the armed forces.
Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Levitt said former News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman was also charged, on allegations of the request of payments to officials for "a palace phone directory known as the 'Green Book' containing contact details for the Royal Family and Members of theHousehold."