This morning the Crown Prosecution Service made an announcement about the first three files passed to it covering Illegal payments to public officials
Charging announcement in relation to Operation Elveden
"This announcement relates to two files of evidence received from the Metropolitan Police Service. The two files were received on 30 August 2012 and are:
- A file for charging advice involving two journalists in relation to allegations of misconduct in public office.
- A file for charging advice involving two journalists and two public officials in relation to allegations of misconduct in public office.
"The first of these two files relates to:
- Clive Goodman, who was the Royal Correspondent for News of the World before 2007; and
- Andy Coulson, who was the News of the World's Deputy Editor between 2000 and 2003 and Editor between 2003 and 2007.
"We have concluded, following a careful review of the evidence, that Clive Goodman and Andy Coulson should be charged with two conspiracies. The allegations relate to the request and authorisation of payments to public officials in exchange for information, including a Palace phone directory known as the "Green Book" containing contact details for the Royal Family and Members of the Household.
the first pair of charges cover Clive Goodman and Andy Coulson, and covers them laying their hands on the green Book, the Royal Familys personal phone book of roayl palaces, staff members and family members phone numbers. from the two seperate date ranges this must have happened on more than one occasion.
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson face charges - live updates | UK news | guardian.co.uk
The 'green book' is an internal directory of contact telephone numbers issued to some of those who work for the royal family. It contains land line, office and residence numbers for royals as well as mobile contacts for senior members of the royal household staff. It is a confidential document and those who are issued with it have to sign for their copy and are expected to keep it secure.
In a second file Rebekah Brooks, John Kay and a Ministry of Defence official have been charged
Charging announcement in relation to Operation Elveden
"The second of these two files relates to:
- Rebekah Brooks, who was Editor of The Sun between 14 January 2003 and 1 September 2009;
- John Kay, who was Chief Reporter at The Sun between 1990 and 2011;
- Bettina Jordan-Barber, employed by the Ministry of Defence; and
- one further suspect in relation to whom the investigation is still ongoing
"We have concluded, following a careful review of the evidence, that Bettina Jordan-Barber, John Kay and Rebekah Brooks should be charged with a conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office between 1 January 2004 and 31 January 2012. This conspiracy relates to information allegedly provided by Bettina Jordan-Barber for payment, which formed the basis of a series of news stories published by The Sun. It is alleged that approximately £100,000 was paid to Bettina Jordan Barber between 2004 and 2011.
All in all further signals that Lord Justice leveson is about to make an anouncement on his report. The authorities hve seemed to have tried to appear to be doing something just before each module has started, and an anouncement that there are ten days till the report emerges to public observation seems another point where they would wish to look busy.
These are probably not the final charges to emerge from Operation Elveden, there are a variety of other cases out there where you would assume that files are yet to be passed from the Met to the CPS.
UPDATE: 7:55 AM PT: Brit's article at the daily Beast
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson Face Bribery Charges - The Daily Beast
The former CEO of News International, Rebekah Brooks, and David Cameron’s former chief press officer, Andy Coulson, were told by Alison Levitt, QC, principal legal adviser to the crown prosecution service, that they facedadditional charges of illegal payments to public officials.
Both Brooks and Coulson have already been charged with multiple instances of phone hacking and are due to stand trial in September next year, with Brooks facing additional charges of attempting to cover up the scandal when it emerged in summer 2011. Coulson faces perjury charges relating to a phone-hacking trial in Scotland.
And some further thoughts myself
The second charge may not just be a problem for Brooks, Kay and the MOD official.
Bettina Jordan-Barber works out of the administrative centre of the British Army at Upavon according to some sources, And the charges cover illegal payments over a period of more than five years (2003 - 2009) and in 2010 she became the"Afghanistan visits strategy officer" now this post would necessarily involve liasing with officials from other nations. According to the MOD's website one of the reasons for needing Developed Vetting (dv) status (that status that Andy Coulson failed to have at number 10) is "in order to satisfy requirements for access to material originating from other countries and international organisations". Part of the process involves examining the individuals finances, and DV status has to be renewed every five years.
Now it appears either she would have needed DV status on taking up this new post, or must already have had it for her previous post. In either of these cases the MOD's investigators must have somehow missed large payments from News International to Ms Jordan-Barber. Someone in the Ministry is probably facing some very awkward questions.