British lawmakers say two former executives of the defunct News of the World misled Parliament by claiming that phone hacking was restricted to a single rogue reporter at the tabloid.
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But Les Hinton, the former executive chairman of News International – now known as News UK – was cleared of misleading the culture, media and sport select committee during its investigation.
The committee has found them both in “contempt of the House” and could now impose tough sanctions on the pair.
Ex-editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone will be “formally admonished” in an official Commons motion if a report by the Privileges Committee is accepted by all MPs.
Mr Myler – who edited the News of the World from 2007 until its closure – said he was “extremely disappointed” at the Privileges Committee’s conclusion, which he said was “plainly contradicted” by evidence in its own report.
MPs on the committee concluded in their 150-page report that Myler was guilty of “answering questions falsely about knowledge of evidence that other “News of the World” employees had been involved in phone-hacking and other wrongdoing” and Crone “misled” Parliament, the Daily Telegraph reports.
However, it found there was not enough evidence to show that Mr Crone sought to mislead MPs about the commissioning of surveillance.
News International was battered by allegations of phone hacking and bribery from 2011 that saw criminal and judicial probes into the press, the closing of the News of the World and the resignation of several high-profile executives.
Following a lengthy inquiry into phone-hacking, the culture committee concluded in 2012 that media mogul Murdoch was not fit to run a major worldwide company and raised questions about the competency of his son James.
It also urged Parliament to re-examine what punishment it should be able to mete out in future against people who mislead committees.
“I have made clear throughout the respect I hold for the Parliamentary process”.
Evidence about Mr Hinton’s wider testimony to Parliament “does not meet the standard of proof set for finding a contempt”, today’s report said.
The finding by the committee follows a report in 2012 from the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee at the height of the phone-hacking scandal, which involved journalists illegally hacking phones in pursuit of stories.
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Former legal manager Mr Crone said he did not accept the findings made against him and stood by his evidence on both issues for which he was criticised. Hinton told PA it was “too little and too late”. News Corp. declined immediate comment on the panel’s findings.
