Late last week The Sun's Whitehall Editor, Clodagh Hartley, was arrested as part of Operation Elveden, the Scotland Yard enquiry into payments made by journalists to public officials.
The Metropolitan Police have reported that the journalist is being held, as a result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management and standards committee. News Corporation is carrying out an ongoing internal investigation into alleged phone-hacking and corrupt payments to police and other public officials.
A statement issued by the Metropolitan Police said that a "37-year-old woman attended Bromley police station by appointment and was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office, contrary to common law and suspicion of bribery, contrary to the Bribery Act 2010".
This is the first high profile arrest of an individual under the Bribery Act 2010. Individuals found guilty of an offence face significant penalties. The maximum penalty for bribery is ten years imprisonment and/ or an unlimited fine.
To date only one other person has been convicted of an offence under the Bribery Act 2010; Munir Patel, an administrative officer at Redbridge Magistrates' Court, was held to have taken £500 by way of a bribe to 'get rid of a speeding charge'. Interestingly, Patel was convicted after a News International sting operation in which he was filmed accepting a bribe. He became the first person convicted under the Bribery Act 2010 and was originally sentenced to six years. This sentence was reduced to four years on appeal in May 2012.
This arrest puts the total number of arrests at 30, as part of Operation Elveden, which is closely connected to Scotland Yard's phone-hacking investigation, Operation Weeting.
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