Civil Servant Arrested In Corrupt Payments Investigation

Civil Servant Arrested In Corruption Probe

An employee of HM Revenue and Customs has been arrested by detectives investigating corrupt payments to public officials.

The 50-year-old man was held on suspicion of misconduct in a public office by officers from Operation Elveden.

Scotland Yard said a 43-year-old woman was also arrested at the address in north west London.

She was held on suspicion of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and money-laundering offences.

The pair were arrested at their home at 6am and are being questioned at a central London police station.

Police said Tuesday's operation was sparked by information supplied by News Corporation's management standards committee (MSC), which was set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of the News of the World last July.

The MSC is carrying out internal investigations relating to Rupert Murdoch's remaining UK papers - The Sun, The Times and the Sunday Times - and is working closely with the detectives investigating alleged phone hacking and corrupt payments to police and other public officials.

Scotland Yard said in a statement: "Today's arrests are the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management standards committee.

"They relate to suspected payments to a public official and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."

A total of 29 people have now been arrested since last July as part of Operation Elveden, which is linked to the Metropolitan Police's continuing phone-hacking investigation Operation Weeting.

The pair have been released on police bail until August.

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