Police make arrests, raid offices of News International

[Tx4obama]

London (CNN) -- Four arrests have been made in connection with allegations of inappropriate payments to police, London's Metropolitan Police Service said Saturday, with a police officer among those detained.

Police are also searching the London offices of News International, the Murdoch-owned publisher of several U.K. newspapers.

The police officer, 29, was arrested at the central London police station where he works on suspicion of corruption, misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both these offenses, the police statement said.

Three other men were arrested at their homes, two of them, aged 48 and 56, in the county of Essex, and one aged 48 in London.

SNIP

Full article here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/uk-police-media/index.html

=====================

@cnnbrk CNN Breaking News
Police arrest 4, raid London offices of News International, the Rupert Murdoch-owned publisher of several UK newspapers on.cnn.com/A2rH1L
https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/163212521157820416

[dipsydoodle]

1. I'm not completely sure

of the relevance of "Police are also searching the London offices of News International" given they've been doing that for a while anyway. The news actually originates from Sky and BBC.

btw Operation Elveden is the investigation into inappropriate payments to police in general.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Elveden

It is the first time since the phone-hacking scandal erupted that the Sun has been targeted in such a major way but sources stress the dawn raid has nothing to do with voicemail interception and solely relates to paying police for stories.

Source of the information which led to the arrests was News International's own interna enquiry @

The four Sun employees arrested are understood to be Mike Sullivan, the Sun's crime editor, the former managing editor Graham Dudman, the executive editor Fergus Shanahan and Chris Pharo, a news desk executive.

The arrests came after information was passed to the police by News Corporation's internal investigations unit, the Management and Standards Committee. It was set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal that erupted last July by Rupert Murdoch and operates independently of News International.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/28/news-international-four-men-arrested

[leveymg]

2. I'm waiting for the related report that mentions "arrest of a man, aged 80, in London."

[nxylas]

3. Murdoch's response

"I'd like to make a donation to the Police Officer's Benevolent Fund if I may" (pulls out chequebook).

[Scuba]

4. Good thing they had no warning or they could have hidden evidence.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Police were called in as a result of News International's own enquiry

and as such I wouldn't think "hiding" comes into it.

[malaise]

5. Great news

[Vanje]

7. Kix n Rex! nt

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Tx4obama.

[Posteritatis]

9. "Inappropriate payments to police" is a pretty fuzzy way of saying "bribes," don't you think? (nt)

[Tx4obama]

10. Update? Hmmm... Four or Five arrested - looks like only four arrested to me

A Yahoo article says five 'arrested' but I am counting only four ...

London police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London. A 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.

Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees. The BBC and other British media identified them as former managing editor Graham Dudman, former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, current head of news Chris Pharo and crime editor Mike Sullivan.

A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.

FOUR arrested
and
ONE detained

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/british-police-arrest-5-tabloid-125228779.html

[dipsydoodle]

12. On issues like this its better to use UK links

especially given its solely a UK issue - four journalists plus one police officer.

Operation Elveden: Five held in police payment probe.

The BBC understands the arrested journalists are ex-deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, ex-managing editor Graham Dudman, crime editor Mike Sullivan and head of news Chris Pharo.

The Met said the arrests, part of Operation Elveden, were prompted by information given to police by News Corporation.

A News International source told the BBC it was an effort aimed at "draining the swamp" so as to restore journalistic integrity at News International titles.

News Corporation and its management and standards committee (MSC) issued a statement following the arrests saying it had made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16771809

Guardian link at reply #2 gave those 4 names. Guardian also published this this afternoon GMT.

News International's email to staff – full text

From: Communications, Internal

Sent: 28 January 2012 14:57

Subject: Message from Tom Mockridge

Dear all,

This morning four of our colleagues were arrested by the Metropolitan police service in relation to Operation Elveden. I understand that the arrests resulted from information provided to the MPS by News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee.

We believe that those arrested are currently being questioned by the police and we must take care not to pre-judge the outcome of the police interviews. The company has provided legal support to those interviewed today. The police are also conducting a limited search at the Sun's offices, supervised by the MSC's lawyers.

News International is confronting past mistakes and is making fundamental changes about how we operate which are essential for our business. As you know, the MSC is leading an internal investigation into our three remaining titles. While this is ongoing, it is well advanced with regards to the Sun.

rest of email here : http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/28/news-international-email-staff-text

[dipsydoodle]

11. I sometimes wonder if old man Murdoch isn't laughing behind everyone's back on this issue.

The Guardian's report, now mainly dismissed, that the NOWT wiped the voicemails led to a collapse in News Corps share values. News Corp then increased the value of the shares they intended to repurchase to $5 billion. The shares are back at c. their highest historic value and as such News Corp seem to be unexpectedly about $2 billion better of for nix other than bad publicity.

There is an old saying - no such thing as bad publicity.

If I didn't know better I be tempted to say Rupert contrived the whole shooting match in the first place.

[Hutzpa]

13. The wheels of justice turns slow

but it sure comes to your door eventually.