America's FBI started inquiry into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. tried to hack into the phones of 9/11 terror attack victims, media reports have said.
America's FBI started inquiry into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. tried to hack into the phones of 9/11 terror attack victims.
FBI's decision to investigate came after its Director Robert Mueller received requests in this regard from several lawmakers. The FBI routinely makes preliminary inquiries into issues raised by lawmakers to decide on the need for a full-blown investigation.
"The (US) law says that any US corporation that bribes a foreign official is subject to severe penalties, not only fines but even criminal penalties. We want to make sure that this company, with all of its influence and the information that it passes to our region, isn't doing that," said New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, the first to demand an investigation.
"They be doing the same thing here and filtering out the news that they want to hear or that they want to steal, in this case, and use it? And we don't want that to happen," Lautenberg said, referring to the phone-hacking scandal by News of the World into the phone of a teenage murder victim in 2002.
Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said it has received letters from several Congress members allegating News Corp, the US Company held by Murdoch.
"We are reviewing those," the spokeswoman said.
Lautenberg said he would be watching the developments in Britain where Murdoch is expected to appear before the British parliament.
"Right now I'm not calling on our committee to bring in Rupert Murdoch. What I want to do is get to the truth of the matter. When we find that out from the Justice Department's review, then we'll make decisions about whether or not it's necessary to bring Murdoch in or other senior people in his operation," he said.
Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley of Iowa asked the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to get involved in this case.
"Our committee has a jurisdiction to look into these very troubling allegations against News Corp and find out whether any federal laws were violated, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits US companies from bribing foreign officials or other types of criminal violations," he said.
"One of the reasons this is so important is because Congress has important oversight responsibilities to make sure that these laws are being followed," Braley said.
"It appears that News Corp is getting into the field of political espionage or personal espionage, and that's one thing that we need to be very concerned about," he alleged.
The Los Angeles Times reported no evidence has yet emerged to confirm that News Corp. employees sought to hack phones in the US.
"The FBI probe also raises the politically delicate possibility that the Obama administration — which has questioned the objectivity of News Corp.'s Fox News — could bring criminal charges against employees of the network's parent company," The Washington Post said.
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