Department of Justice move in on Rupert Murdoch

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Department of Justice talk to

London’s Serious Fraud Office

about Rupert Murdoch corruption

The shares in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation have dropped by 7.6% to a two-year low. Wiping $10 billion off at peak value. This news comes as as an investigation into phone hacking in the UK widens.

According to the BBC, The US Department of Justice has spoken to the Serious Fraud Office about how to investigate allegations the News of the World paid police for information.

It is illegal for any US company to pay bribes to overseas officials, under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. News Corporation’s headquarters are in New York, but its shares are listed in both the US and Australia.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said the Department of Justice had not yet launched a formal investigation, but its conversations with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) showed that it was actively considering whether it needed to launch such an investigation.

In another twist, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson stepped down for his part in the phone hacking scandal.

Sir Paul, Britain’s most senior police officer, was criticized for hiring former News of the World executive Neil Wallis – who was questioned by police as part of the probe into hacking – as an adviser.

What is happening in the UK now is overdue and necessary. Events should be used as an opportunity to refocus public life in order to have a strong, free but responsible press and fearless but accountable political elite in addition to an independent and trustworthy police force. Not asking for much am I?

I swear not to tell the truth, not the whole truth and nothing like the truth