Nick Clegg calls for publication of list of private investigator employers
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has weighed into the row over private investigators by calling for the publication of a secret list of firms which employed their services.
Clegg said that full disclosure of the identities of hundreds of businesses and organisations suspected of hiring investigators suspected of hacking would be in the best interests of ‘transparency’.
Amongst those said to be contained in the 102 strong list, compiled by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, are twenty two law firms alongside a host of insurance firms, financial services groups and two celebrities.
Legal restrictions have thus far prevented publication of the list but a growing clamour of voices senior figures are seeking ways through the impasse.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 earlier the chairman of the home affairs select committee, Keith Vaz, said: “I don’t think that Parliament should be part of a ‘secret squirrel’ club, where we are given a list that is important and should be in the public interest and we are not able to publish it.
“The reason we can’t publish it at the moment… is because we are told that both the Information Commissioner and the Metropolitan Police may be interested in investigating the 94 companies, firms, individuals that are on the second list."
In a separate development home secretary Theresa May has announced measures to regulate the private investigations industry to bolster confidence and root out malpractice.