Pension funds call for Murdoch to go

JAMES MURDOCH should leave the board of News Corp in the wake of a hacking scandal at its British newspaper unit, according to a group of British pension funds.

Mr Murdoch’s “continued presence on the News Corp board is causing significant reputational damage to the company and is no longer in shareholders’ interest,” the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum said yesterday. The group’s 54 members have assets of £100 billion (€116.47bn).

Mr Murdoch, the deputy chief operating officer, who was compelled to appear in July before a British parliamentary committee to explain how much he knew about phone hacking at the News of the World, was recalled to answer further questions later this year. Former executives at News International have questioned the evidence he gave at the time.

Members of the fund forum own less than 1% of News Corp shares. The body demanded a “separation of powers at the head of the company and the appointment of a genuinely independent chair.” It has recommended that members oppose the election of Rupert Murdoch, News Corp’s chairman and chief executive, and James’s father.

News Corp was forced to shut the News of the World in July amid allegations that reporters had hacked into the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. A police investigation has lead to at least 16 arrests.