Ex-Murdoch aides face graft charges

Brooks; Coulson

British prosecutors yesterday said they will charge ex-News International chief Rebekah Brooks and the prime minister's former spokesman Andy Coulson with making illegal payments to public officials.
Three other people will also be charged for payments by reporters at Rupert Murdoch's The Sun and News of the World newspapers in exchange for contact details of the royal family and information from the ministry of defence.
The charges are the latest to stem from the phone-hacking scandal which shut down the News of the World in 2011, caused a firestorm in British politics and still plague Murdoch's News Corp. empire to this day.
Brooks, who is a close friend of Prime Minister David Cameron, and Coulson, the premier's media chief until 2011, already face trial on phone-hacking charges while Brooks has also been charged with obstruction of justice.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Coulson and former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman face two charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office over payments that were made in exchange for a Buckingham Palace phone book called the "Green Book".
The book "contained contact details for the Royal Family and Members of the royal household", Alison Levitt, the Principal Legal Advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions, said in a statement.