London: A British parliamentary committee investigating phone hacking at a now defunct UK tabloid paper is very likely to recall News Corp executive James Murdoch in person after receiving further statements that cast doubt on his previous testimony.
"When we have the further information that we are seeking, I think it is very likely that we will want to put those points to James Murdoch," the head of the committee, John Whittingdale, told reporters after receiving written evidence from two of Murdoch's former colleagues, and Murdoch himself.
Parliamentarian Tom Watson said further evidence that would include some "devastating revelations" that would raise questions for the company in general would be released.
Allegations of widespread hacking at News Corp's British newspaper arm, and in particular reports that journalists had used investigators to hack in to the voicemails of murder victims, sparked an uproar in Britain that dominated global headlines for almost the whole of July.
It forced the company to close the 168-year-old paper, drop its most important acquisition in decades — the $12 billion (Dh44 billion) purchase of BSkyB — and accept the resignation of two of its most senior newspaper executives.
Two of Britain's most senior police officers also quit over their failure to properly investigate the scandal and 12 people have since been arrested.
Two former News of the World colleagues had previously contradicted information that James Murdoch gave to the committee in July at a hearing into the hacking allegations at the News of the World tabloid.
