Coulson approved bribery, prosecutors in phone-hacking case allege

LONDON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Former News Corp. editor Andy Coulson personally approved bribery payments, prosecutors in the London phone-hacking case alleged Friday.

Coulson, 45, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of bribing public officials in the pursuit of news stories, an illegally intercepting voice mail. Seven other defendants, including former News Corp. executive Rebekah Brooks, 45, have also pleaded not guilty to similar charges, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

In the third day of opening statements in the case, prosecutors pointed to one incident in which Coulson, then-editor of the newspaper News of the World, sent an e-mail to a staff member in reference to uncovering information on an unidentified celebrity.

"Do his phone," the prosecution alleges Coulson wrote, a reference to voice-mail interception, or phone-hacking.