Former Murdoch Aides to Be Charged With Bribery
LONDON — In a new turn in the scandals swirling around Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper outpost, prosecutors said on Tuesday that two former top executives will be charged with paying bribes of up to $160,000 to public officials, in addition to several earlier charges against them.
The Crown Prosecution Service identified the onetime aides as Rebekah Brooks, 44, and Andy Coulson, 44, both of whom have had close personal or professional ties to Prime Minister David Cameron. Mr. Cameron hired Mr. Coulson as his director of communications while in opposition and kept him on after coming to power in the 2010 elections.
On Tuesday, Mr. Coulson, 44, a former editor of a Murdoch tabloid, The News of the World, denied two charges relating to periods before he joined Mr. Cameron’s staff in 2007, and said he would fight them in court.
Ms. Brooks, who is accused of conspiring with another journalist to pay $160,000 over seven years to a defense ministry official, was a neighbor and personal friend of Mr. Cameron.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/21/world/europe/former-murdoch-aides-to-be-charged-with-bribery.html?hp&_r=0
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