Further written evidence submitted by
the Information Commissioner's Office
I am writing as requested to confirm the outcome
of our recent telephone discussion. You asked whether the Information
Commissioner's Office (ICO) had disclosed any of the invoices
and ledgers seized during the Operation Motorman investigation
to the press. I have made enquiries and can confirm that we have
not disclosed any of this information to the press nor made it
publicly available in any other way. As far as we are aware the
only people who have any of this information are:
— the police, who were also involved in
Operation Motorman; and
— the lawyers acting on behalf of Gordon Taylor
to whom we supplied some of the information in response to a court
order.
You asked whether we would be willing to supply
any of the ledgers and invoices to your Committee. Whilst we are
keen to assist the Committee in its Inquiry it would be difficult
for us to provide any of this information unless we were under
legal compulsion to do so or a convincing case was made as to
how this level of detail, including the identity of individuals,
would materially assist the Committee. It is important to bear
in mind that the ledgers and invoices were seized under search
warrant powers and their disclosure, other than for the purpose
of our original investigation, might well be unlawful. Furthermore
they contain personal information not just about journalists but
also about other individuals unconnected to the media, who appear
to have been involved in the "blagging" trade. This
includes the victims of that trade whose involvement may not be
in the public domain and who may not want any further intrusion
into their privacy.
July 2009
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