This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Clodagh Hartley, the Sun's Whitehall editor, is to be charged along with two others with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office in relation to payment for information including details of the government's 2010 deficit reduction plans.

Hartley, who was arrested and bailed in May 2012 by officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden, is the sixth Sun journalist charged as a result of the investigation into alleged illegal payments by journalists to public officials.

The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed on Tuesday that Hartley will be charged, along with Jonathan Hall, a HMRC press officer, and his partner, Marta Bukarewicz. They are also charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

It is alleged that between 30 March 2008 and 15 July 2011 the Sun paid £17,475 to Hall, mostly via Bukarawicz, for "unauthorised disclosure of information obtained as a result of his employment with HMRC".

"The information provided included details about government plans, including upcoming but as yet unannounced spending and policy decisions relating to the 2010 Budget and the coalition government's deficit reduction plans," the CPS said in a statement. "Information also related specifically to policy and decision-making within HMRC, including that relating to job losses and casework."

All three are due to appear before Westminster magistrates' court on 29 May.

Operation Elveden was set up in 2011 and is running in conjunction with Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's investigation into phone hacking, and has resulted in more than 60 arrests.

So far more than 20 current or former Sun executives and journalists have been arrested. Six have been charged while one, the crime editor Mike Sullivan, has been cleared and told he faces no further action.

Four former police officers and an ex-prison officer have been convicted of passing information to newspapers as a result of Operation Elveden.

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