what you say it being a pragmatic condition based on the cost of the company an inference could be bought that silence was being bought by the confidentiality clause in the larger settlements. that inference would be false. a lot of people find it quite hard to believe that two executives who nobody would regard as passive had such little knowledge of widespread illegality at one of your flagship papers. can i ask you very specifically, mr. james murdoch first, when did you become aware that the victims of crime had been hacked, when did you become aware that the phone of the murder victim dowler had been hacked? the terrible, the terrible instance of deception around the lilly dowler case only came to
chief executive officer of news international . and i would like to thank you for your willingness to come before the committee. we are very much aware there is an ongoing police investigation which could lead to criminal proceedings. we will bear that in mind but we also appreciate your statement when you resigned from the company that you wanted to be a as helpful as possible to the way. could i start then. news international issued a statement when you were chief executive in july 2009 saying, evidence to support allegations that news of the world voice mails of many individuals that they are instructed private investigators or other third parties to access voice mails of any individuals, systemic corporate illegal galty by news inters national. would you accept now that that is not correct? thank you, mr. chairman.
over seen by the director of legal affairs john chapman and the human resources director daniel cloak, is that your understanding? what was the question? the investigation itself. you described it, and others described it to us, it was carried out by the it department and over seen by the director of legal affairs, john chapman, and the human resources personnel director daniel cloak h is that an accurate description? that is my understanding. can you tell us why john chapman has left the organization? john chapman and the organization decided it was, you know, in mutual interest to part ways, and i think you know, i think one of the pieces here as well is for the company to move forward, and is for and i think this is important, you know, many of the individuals, even if there is no if there is no evidence of wrongdoing, or
as i understand it. based upon the review it was issued to the company the law firm and the opinion was clear and the company rested on that. i cannot speak to individuals knowledge at different times because i simply don t know. what i do know is that the company rested on that, rested on the fact that the police told us that there was no new evidence, no reason for a new investigation and rested on the opinion of the pcc that there was no new information and no reason to carry it further. it wasn t until new evidence emerged from the civil trial, the civil litigations that were going on that we the company immediately went to the police, restarted this. and the company has done the right thing in that respect. this was evidence that was lying in your lawyers possession all the time, it s not simply evidence thatee merged through litigation. may i?
james acted as fast as he could. does that suggest that you were held back at any point or constrained in this process in the last few weeks. as i said to the committee earlier, i can t remember, my apologies, mr. collins this has been a frustrating process, actually my frustration i think and my real anger to learn that, you know, there was new evidence emerging as late as the end of 2010, was real, and is real. and, you know, what i ve done and what the company has tried to do is take new information, adjust our course, behave with propriety, behave quickly, behave in a humble way with respect to what s happened and with respect to trying to really put it right. and that s what we are trying to do. it s enormously frustrating. it does not mean i have any knowledge of anyone intentionally misleading me in the company, i don t. which makes it doubly