Rebekah Brooks $2.7M Severance Adds To James Murdochs Problems

Rupert Murdoch’s not-quite-so-apparent-heir James will face even tougher questioning Thursday when he returns to Parliament for more questioning about the phone-hacking scandal that has shaken the News Corp. empire.In the latest of a string of disclosures since the culture media and sport select committee last interviewed James Murdoch, The Guardian revealed over the weekendover the weekend that News International’s disgraced former chief executive Rebekah Brooks received $2.7 million, use of a London office and chauffered limousine for two years as part of her severance package.”It is remarkably curious that such a generous package is given to Ms. Brooks when others have been cut loose,” said Tom Watson, the member of parliament who has taken the lead in efforts to expose the scandal surrounding News of the World which has now spread to another News International paper, The Sun. “It is almost as if she hasn’t really left the company. I am sure Mr. Murdoch will want to explain the decision to his shareholders.”Scotland Yard on Friday arrested a Sun journalist as part of a related investigation into News Corp. employees bribing police and other government officials. Brooks, 43, Brooks was editor between 2003 and 2009 before being elevated to chief executive of News International. Murdoch, 38, also faces questions about discrepancies between his previous testimonyand assertions byformer NOTW executives who testified in September that he knew more about the lawbreaking earlier than he has been willing to concede particularly a “damning email” Murdoch has said they never showed him — raising the possibility that he was trying to cover up the extent of lawbreaking when he authorized a $1.4 million out-of-court settlementwith a non-disclosure clause tosoccer chief Gordon Taylor, a hacking victim who knew that a secondreporter had been implicated. In light of these developments and an embarrassing but impotent vote by a significant number of News Corp. shareholders against James’ re-election to the company board, his performance Thursday will be under a microscope. As if it hasn’t already.