- NEW: Murdoch accuses two ex-News of the World executives of misleading lawmakers
- News International chief is being grilled again by a committee of Parliament over phone hacking
- James Murdoch claims he was unaware of the practice at now-defunct News of the World tabloid
- News International admitted Sunday to hiring a detective to spy on hacking victims' lawyers
London (CNN) -- News International chief James Murdoch accused two former News of the World executives of misleading British lawmakers about what he knew about the phone-hacking scandal.
Murdoch said he "disputed vigorously" the version of events described by editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone, who both left the company when the tabloid newspaper was closed down in summer.
His comments came as he was being questioned Thursday for a second time by a parliamentary committee about evidence he gave on the phone-hacking scandal during his previous high-drama appearance alongside his father, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, in July.
James Murdoch denied he knew in 2008 phone-hacking was not limited to a single reporter at the newspaper, as the company claimed at the time. He also rejected Myler and Crone's claim they made him aware of the contents of the so-called "for Neville" e-mail that year indicating phone-hacking was widespread at the paper.
The document is known as the "for Neville" e-mail, apparently after its intended recipient Neville Thurlbeck, then chief reporter for the now-defunct tabloid.
Asked by Labour Member of Parliament Tom Watson if he had misled the committee in his previous evidence, Murdoch said: "No, I did not."
He added: "I believe this committee was given evidence by individuals either without full possession of the facts, or now it appears in the process of my own discovery ... it was economical."
Asked if he was accusing Myler and Crone of misleading the committee, Murdoch replied: "Certainly in the evidence they gave to you in 2011 in regard to my own knowledge, I believe it was inconsistent and not right, and I dispute it vigorously."
Questioned by members of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee about the so-called "for Neville" e-mail that included transcripts of 35 hacked conversations and was believed to have been intended for a reporter at News of the World, Murdoch denied again having seen it.
His statement contradicted a letter Crone wrote to lawmakers in the summer saying he had "no doubt" Murdoch was aware of the e-mail in a meeting before he signed a check for $1.2 million to settle one case.
Murdoch said Thursday: "I want to be very clear. No documents were shown to me or given to me at that meeting or prior to it."
Murdoch was also put under pressure over the company's response to allegations that News of the World intercepted cellphone calls and messages of almost 5,800 prominent politicians, celebrities and business leaders. The public outrage led News International to shutter News of the World.
Taking a contrite tone, Murdoch told lawmakers that the experience had "humbled" the whole company and that he was "very sorry" about what had happened.
He also said the company had "moved into an aggressive defense too quickly" when some of the claims were made against it in early 2010.
If he had known then what he knows now, he said, he would have acted differently.
Murdoch heckled by Occupy protesters 
Pressure may be mounting on the Murdochs Murdoch's position at the helm of News International is widely believed to have been jeopardized by the scandal, which has so far cost its parent company at least $150 million. Amid the furore, the Murdochs were forced to abandon their attempt to buy the shares they did not own in British broadcaster BSkyB.
Thursday's hearing came only days after News International admitted the Sunday tabloid had hired a private detective to spy on lawyers defending hacking victims. The company described the action as "deeply inappropriate."
The scandal blew up in July when News International admitted private investigators had hacked into the phone of missing teenager Milly Dowler, deleting some messages to allow room for more. The deletion of messages gave the 13-year-old's family hope that she was still alive when she was already dead.
Then it was also alleged that families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as relatives of 9/11 victims had also been targeted and police officers had been bribed.
Amid a storm of public outrage and a boycott by advertisers, News of the World was closed down shortly afterwards while chief executive Rebekah Brooks and long-time Murdoch aide Les Hinton resigned.
In July, as the scandal became front-page news around the world, the Murdochs were summoned before a parliamentary committee investigating phone hacking. At the dramatic appearance, Rupert Murdoch denied he was to blame for the scandal, but declared that this was "the most humble day of my life."
Afterwards, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said James Murdoch had "questions to answer in Parliament," after former top executives of News of the World accused their former boss of giving "mistaken" evidence.
Until this year, News International had maintained that hacking was confined to one rogue reporter, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who were jailed in 2007 for intercepting the royal family's phones.
But documents released by lawmakers this summer indicated there had been a cover-up. In a letter sent by Goodman in 2007 to News International's human resources department, he wrote: "Phone hacking was widely discussed in the News of the World daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor."
That claim will be devastating for then-editor Andy Coulson, who told politicians in 2009: "I neither knew about phone hacking nor condoned its use." It's also a further blow to Cameron, who later employed Coulson as communications director, a post he resigned from this year.
The Goodman letter also includes claims the disgraced reporter won promises from the company, as he faced jail time. Goodman says he was "promised I could come back to a job at the newspaper if I did not implicate the paper or any of its staff in my mitigation plea. I did not and expect the paper to honour its promise to me."
CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_world/~3/HoJZkpmjZF0/index.html
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