Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accused on Tuesday the publications owned by the news tycoon Rupert Murdoch that they had used “criminal means” to illegally obtain personal information about him.
“Sunday Times seems to have had access to my bank account. They had access to my files, in particular, real estate”, Brown said for the BBC, referring in particular to an article published in the newspaper about the alleged purchase of an apartment at a reduced price.
“I am really shocked to discover that this occurred because of their links with criminals, (…) hired by investigators who worked for the Sunday Times”, said Brown, who served as finance minister from 1997 to 2007, then prime minister until 2010.
Sunday Times belongs to News International, a British newspaper subsidiary of News Corp group belonging to Rupert Murdoch, who had to close on Sunday the most popular publication, News of the World because of the wiretaps scandal.
Brown testified also that he broke “into tears” when tabloid The Sun, owned by News International as well, revealed in 2006 that one of his children was suffering from mucoviscidosis (cystic fibrosis).
“I was very angry (…). I have never spoken publicly about Fraser‘s illness. (…) You wonder where they got this information (…). They will have to explain. I can not imagine that the disease of a child may be disclosed publicly without the doctor or family distributing a press release”, he added.
“News International has appealed to known criminals, people who in some cases have a criminal record, and News International has had links within the criminal environment”, insisted Brown.
He said he received a phone call from the former chief editor of The Sun, Rebekah Brooks, currently general manager of the News International group, who told him that the newspaper will publish an article about his son’s illness.
News International has responded requesting that “all information about these allegations to be provided to them to deepen the investigation”. But an official of the British subsidiary of News Corp., told AFP that Brown’s son information was obtained from “legitimate sources”.
With Brown’s involvement, the wiretaps scandal, affecting the media and political environment, has spread to three of the four News International publications.
Because of this case, Rupert Murdoch closed last week News of the World – the best selling publication in the British press.