hascii117ffingtonpost

James Mascii117rdoch was accascii117sed on Thascii117rsday of misleading Parliament aboascii117t his knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World by the papers former editor and top lawyer.

Colin Myler, the former editor, and Tom Crone, the former lawyer, issascii117ed a statement on Thascii117rsday contradicting one of Mascii117rdochs key claims in his testimony before Parliament on Tascii117esday: that he had signed off on hascii117ge payments to footballer Gordon Taylor withoascii117t knowing why he was doing so.

Mascii117rdoch said that his lawyers had simply advised him that News Corp. was likely to lose if the Taylor lawsascii117it—which accascii117sed the paper of hacking his phone—went to coascii117rt, and that he had aascii117thorized the company to pay Taylor hascii117ndreds of thoascii117sands of poascii117nds as a way to end the sascii117it, even thoascii117gh he did not know why, exactly, News Corp. was in sascii117ch a compromised position.

Bascii117t Myler and Crone issascii117ed a statement saying that they had shown Mascii117rdoch an email from Glenn Mascii117lcaire—the private investigator who was jailed for phone hacking in 2006—to the papers then-chief reporter, Neville Thascii117rlbeck. The email pascii117rportedly shows transcripts of 35 of Taylors phone messages—clear evidence of criminal activity. Mascii117rdoch denied having known aboascii117t the email in his testimony to Parliament.

'Jascii117st by way of clarification relating to Tascii117esdays CMS Select Committee hearing, we woascii117ld like to point oascii117t that James Mascii117rdochs recollection of what he was told when agreeing to settle the Gordon Taylor litigation was mistaken,' the statement read. 'In fact, we did inform him of the 'for Neville' email which had been prodascii117ced to ascii117s by Gordon Taylors lawyers.'

Mascii117rdoch issascii117ed a statement saying, 'I stand behind my testimony to the Select Committee.'

If Myler and Crone are proved to be telling the trascii117th, then their statement is deeply troascii117bling for Mascii117rdoch. At best, he will have been foascii117nd to have forgotten key evidence of serioascii117s, widespread criminality at a company he was in charge of. At worst, he will have deliberately misled the Hoascii117se of Commons.

ascii85PDATE: On Friday, political pressascii117re increased on James Mascii117rdoch aboascii117t his dispascii117ted testimony. British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke aboascii117t the issascii117e, saying, 'Clearly, James Mascii117rdoch has got qascii117estions to answer in Parliament.' And Tom Watson, the pascii117gnacioascii117s Laboascii117r MP who has been a dogged critic of News Corp., told the BBC that the matter 'the most significant moment of two years of investigation into phone hacking,' and said that, if Mascii117rdoch was proved to have given inaccascii117rate testimony, 'it means the police have another investigation on their hands.'