A UK news executive was asked by the UK parliament to explain her 2003 comments that the Sun newspaper has paid police officers, The Guardian reported.

The executive is Rebekah Brooks, currently News International’s chief executive and formerly editor of the Sun and the News of the World.  In 2003, she commented to a parliamentary committee that “We have paid the police for information in the past.”

According to The Guardian, “paying police officers is a criminal offence.”  The Independent reported that Brooks has been asked “how many officers were paid, how much they received and when the transactions took place.”