Call for inquiry into Murdoch payments to Coulson
ANDREW SPARROW, and POLLY CURTIS in London
THE UK Electoral Commission is being asked to investigate whether Rupert Murdoch’s News International payments to Andy Coulson after he started working for the UK Conservative party may have broken the law.
Tom Watson, a Labour MP and a member of the House of Commons culture committee, said he wanted the Electoral Commission to investigate whether the payments and benefits – which reportedly included private health insurance and a company car – should have been declared because they amounted to a political donation.
MPs on the committee are also angry because the reports appear to contradict evidence given to it by Mr Coulson himself. The former News of the World editor, who worked as the UK Conservative prime minister David Cameron’s communications chief from July 2007 until January this year (Mr Cameron became prime minister in May 2010), is expected to face further questioning from the committee about the payments.
On Monday night, the BBC’s Robert Peston said Mr Coulson had received several hundred thousand pounds from News International after he started working for Conservative party.
Mr Coulson was known to have received a payoff after he resigned from the News of the World in January 2007 following the conviction of journalist Clive Goodman and investigator Glenn Mulcaire for phone hacking.
But Mr Peston said Mr Coulson received his severance pay in instalments, and that he continued receiving money from News International until the end of 2007. Mr Peston also said Mr Coulson continued to receive his News International work benefits, such as healthcare, for three years and that he kept his company car.
The report casts doubt on the reliability of the evidence that Mr Coulson gave to the culture committee in 2009. Mr Coulson, who at the time was working for the Conservative party on a reported salary of £275,000 – roughly half what he was thought to have been earning at the News of the World – said he did not have any “secondary income”.
Mr Watson asked: “So your sole income was News International and then your sole income was the Conservative party?” Mr Coulson replied: “Yes.” Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, appeared to confirm this when she gave evidence to the committee in July. Asked if the company had “subsidised” Mr Coulson’s salary after he left the News of the World , she said: “That’s not true.”
Yesterday, John Whittingdale, the Conservative MP who chairs the culture committee, said Mr Coulson and News International should have been more open with the committee about the nature of this arrangement. “As I understand it, these were staggered payments from a severance package. So, arguably, that’s just delayed pay,” Mr Whittingdale said.
“But if it is also true that Coulson was provided with a car and health insurance, then I would have expected him to have made that clear. And I would have expected News International to have made that clear when we asked them about it.” The committee is not meeting until September, but Mr Whittingdale said it may decide to seek further clarification on these matters from Mr Coulson and News International.
Mr Watson said yesterday the committee would have to establish whether it had been “misled”. But he said that the Electoral Commission also had to establish whether the payments and benefits constituted donations to the Conservative party that should have been declared.
In July, the Conservatives denied Mr Coulson was paid by News International while he was working for the party or the government. – (Guardian service)
Labour MP Tom Watson is calling for an investigation into payments by News International to Andy Coulson. 
The United Kingdom electoral commission has been asked to investigate whether payments made by  to  amidst the recent phone hacking scandal were illegal. 

Labor MP , who has been a driving force in the phone hacking scandal, called for the investigation after he believed that payments and benefits made to Coulson, including private health benefits and a company car, should have been declared as a political donation. Mr Watson has reportedly been trying to uncover whether Coulson declared these payments to the cultures committee upon applying for access to parliament.

MPs are bewildered by Prime Minister David Cameron's hiring of Coulson without anyone looking into his financial history, and many have expressed outrage as the reports contradict evidence given by the former  editor to the culture committee in 2009. He allegedly told the committee that he had received a salary of £275,000 and that he did not have a second income.

Coulson is expected to face further questioning from the committee about the payments after he is cleared from the phone hacking scandal.

, a journalist for the BBC, claimed that Mr Coulson had received several hundred thousand pounds from News International after he began working for the Conservative Party. Despite his ousting in 2007, Mr Coulson received his severance pay in installments from News International until the end of that year. 

Coulson was known to have received a payoff after his resignation from News of the World in 2007. The resignation came after the conviction of journalist  for phone hacking.

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has stated that both Coulson and  should have informed the committee about the payments. The investigation will decide whether or not the electoral committee has been misled by Coulson, and whether the payments should be considered as a political donation.

The committee is expected to meet in early September to decide on a plan of action.