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Former editor of the News of the World Colin Myler has said he
stands by his evidence to the culture select committee, after its
phone-hacking report accused him of misleading MPs.
The committee's report also unanimously concluded that former legal manager Tom Crone and former executive chairman of News International Les Hinton had misled the committee on phone
hacking .
MPs also claimed that "corporately" News International had misled parliament and ignored "evidence
of widespread wrongdoing".
Both Tom Crone and Colin Myler were accused of having "misled the
committee by answering questions falsely about their knowledge of
evidence that other News of the World employees had been involved
in phone hacking and other wrongdoing".
In a statement Myler, who is now editor of New York Daily News,
said: "While I respect the work that the Select Committee has
carried out, I stand by the evidence that I gave the Committee. I
have always sought to be accurate and consistent in what I have
said to the Committee.
"The conclusions of the Committee have, perhaps inevitably, been
affected by the fragmented picture which has emerged from the
various witnesses over successive appearances and by the
constraints within which the Committee had to conduct its
procedure.
"These issues remain the subject of a police investigation and the
Leveson judicial inquiry and I have every confidence that they will
establish the truth in the fullness of time."
Former News International executive chairman Les Hinton also issued
a statement, according to reports, in which he brands accusations
that he was "complicit" in a cover-up at the company as "unfounded,
unfair and erroneous".
Hinton was accused of having been "complicit in the cover-up at
News international" and "making misleading statements and giving a
misleading picture to this committee".
In particular Hinton was accused in the report of having misled the
committee in 2009 "in not telling the truth about payments to Clive
Goodman and his role in authorising them, including the payment of
his legal fee".
"He also misled the committee about the extent of his knowledge of
allegations that phone hacking extended beyond Clive Goodman and
Glenn Mulcaire to others at the News of the World," the report
adds.
In a statement published by news outlets including the Guardian and
the Telegraph Hinton said:
"I am shocked and disappointed by the Culture, Media and Sport
Select Committee's allegations that I have misled parliament and
was 'complicit' in a cover-up.
"I refute these accusations utterly. I have always been truthful in
my dealings with the committee and its findings are unfounded,
unfair and erroneous.
"To be clear, not once in my testimony before the committee did I
seek to mislead it or pass blame for decisions to others. Nor did I
participate in a 'cover-up'. Furthermore, there is nothing in my
evidence to support the committee's findings that I did.
"I will be writing to John Whittingdale, the chair of the
committee, to object formally."
Individually Tom Crone was accused of misleading parliament in 2009
"by giving a counter-impression of the significance of
confidentiality in the Gordon Taylor settlement".
The report adds that Crone also "sought to mislead the committee
about the commissioning of surveillance".
Tom Crone had not issued a statement at the time of writing.