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MPs have intensified the pressure to publish a confidential list of companies that used private investigators suspected of hacking and other alleged unethical information-gathering practices.
The Commons home affairs committee revealed on Wednesday that law firms and insurance companies were among those on a list compiled by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) that has remained unpublished for several years.
The MPs are examining claims that companies other than newspaper owners used private investigators to hack and gain information about their business rivals.
For the first time, the committee gave a sector-by-sector breakdown of those firms or individuals on the Soca list. They include 21 law firms, nine in the insurance sector, one pharmaceutical company, four food service enterprises and an oil firm. In total 94 companies were listed.
Tantalisingly, it was noted that there were two "celebrity" firms or individuals on the list. But they were not named, nor was it clear if these were individuals or organisations providing services to the famous.
A further eight companies are believed to have used four private investigators who were convicted last year of "blagging" confidential information after an investigation by Soca called Operation Millipede.
Philip Campbell Smith and three others pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by illegally obtaining confidential information. Operation Millipede also uncovered evidence suggesting companies involved in hiring the private investigators included a rail company and one in the security industry.
Soca said it would not publish the list of 102 companies in full because that could jeopardise a current Scotland Yard investigation. But it has provided the list to the home affairs committee, whose members added to calls for the list's contents to be made public.
The MPs also revealed that a Met investigation into computer hacking by media companies and other organisations, called Operation Tuleta, is examining five organisations or individuals. Seven journalists and 13 others have been arrested at various times by the Tuleta team, but it is not clear how those arrests relate to the five organisations or individuals disclosed on Wednesday.
Labour MP Keith Vaz, chair of the committee, said: "The committee remains concerned that it holds a list that Soca has classified as secret, even though it is evidence given as part of our inquiry."
Signalling that the committee may demand the list be published, Vaz said: "It is in the public interest for the information to be available at the appropriate time, not for this saga to drag on."
In a letter, Soca's director general Trevor Pearce said: "Soca is not alleging the individuals or companies named on the list have – or even may have – committed a criminal offence."
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