News Corporation Chairman Rupert MurdochThe U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service said Tuesday that former News Corporation bosses Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks will be charged with bribing public officials.
Coulson was an editor of The News of the World and Brooks was the CEO of News International, a British subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation that holds its U.K. newspapers.
A report by the New York Times said three other individuals will be charged. It didn’t mention if News Corporation or its subsidiary might be prosecuted.
New York-based News Corporation faces FCPA-related investigations in the U.S.
Andy Coulson, 44, went to work for British Prime Minister David Cameron in 2007.
When phone-hacking and bribery scandals hit The News of the World, Murdoch quickly shut down the tabloid. News Corporation has been cooperating in the investigations in the U.K. and the U.S.
In August, Murdoch announced in a memo to his employees beefed up antibribery training and a global review of compliance programs.
Brooks, 44, was charged with conspiring to pay $160,000 to a defense ministry official, the New York Times said.
Earlier this year, a narrow majority of U.K. lawmakers issued a report saying Murdoch, 82, was unfit to lead News Corporation partly because he showed ‘willful blindness’ to illegal practices in the company.
During hearings in Parliament, Murdoch said subordinates concealed the illegal behavior from him.
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