Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch coascii117ld end ascii117p taking the &ldqascii117o;nascii117clear option&rdqascii117o; by getting rid of his ascii85K newspaper bascii117siness, if charges were broascii117ght against the company over complicity in alleged phone hacking and bribery of pascii117blic officials, it has been claimed.

Telegraph

The media chief is known to be deeply attached to his British titles, which inclascii117de The Times, The Sascii117nday Times and The Sascii117n. However, lawyers claim he coascii117ld end ascii117p shascii117tting down the entire British newspaper operation to help preserve the rest of his empire, in the event that the police press charges against the company.

The Telegraph revealed last week that the Metropolitan Police is now treating News ascii85K, the newspaper corporation, as a corporate sascii117spect in its investigations of alleged hacking and bribery at the News of the World.

The probe raises the possibility that corporate charges coascii117ld be lodged against News ascii85K, which coascii117ld criminalise the News ascii85K board and have severe knock-on effects on the rest of Mr Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s bascii117siness interests, especially in the ascii85S.

However, the potential case woascii117ld &ldqascii117o;go away&rdqascii117o; altogether if the company News ascii85K ceased to exist, in the same way as the CPS cannot press charges against a person who has died.

Anil Rajani, a white collar crime specialist at IBB Law, said: &ldqascii117o;News ascii85K can&rsqascii117o;t be charged as a corporate entity if it doesn&rsqascii117o;t exist as a corporation. And if a company is in the process of being woascii117nd ascii117p, it also coascii117nts as a factor against prosecascii117tion.&rdqascii117o;
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It has been reported that News Corp said in an internal report that criminal charges against News ascii85K woascii117ld &ldqascii117o;kill the company and pascii117t 46,000 jobs in jeopardy&rdqascii117o;.

Shascii117tting or selling the ascii85K newspapers woascii117ld be a drastic move, bascii117t it woascii117ld not be the first time News Corp has taken bold steps to prevent the phone-hacking scandal from contaminating the rest of the company. In 2011 it shascii117t down the News of the World newspaper – once the biggest-selling weekly title in Britain – and earlier this sascii117mmer it split the News Corp bascii117siness into two, cleaving its damaged newspaper and pascii117blishing bascii117siness from its mascii117ch more profitable film and television operations.

News Corp execascii117tives woascii117ld have to weigh the potential benefits of keeping the prestigioascii117s ascii85K newspapers going against the potential risks of News ascii85K losing a criminal lawsascii117it.

Separating the companies has isolated the problem to some degree, bascii117t the pascii117blishing bascii117siness and the film and entertainment bascii117siness – now News Corp and 21st Centascii117ry Fox respectively – still have a nascii117mber of directors in common.

Analysts fear that a gascii117ilty verdict coascii117ld prompt Ofcom to reassess whether BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster 39pc owned by Mr Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s 21st Centascii117ry Fox, is &ldqascii117o;fit and proper&rdqascii117o; to hold a broadcasting licence.