But in its statement, the Yard said: "We have carefully examined the position of Lord Taylor and Lord Truscott in the context of a possible investigation for the common law offence of bribery.
That a Munich court should have decreed that the Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone could buy off prosecution for an alleged offence of bribery has astonished not only the German newspapers but even a former justice minister.
Further, it is far from obvious that the way forward at this point is simply to add a few additional offences to the initial 'list' consisting of the single offence of bribery.
After being held for 20 hours, the Dubliner was released on bail pending investigation into three offences: conspiracy to commit acts of bribery, conspiracy to cheat and suspicion of entering into an arrangement to launder criminal proceeds relating to match-fixing.
A 37-year-old woman was arrested last Friday on suspicion of bribery and corruption offences and a source familiar with the situation identified her as Whitehall editor of Murdoch's daily Sun tabloid, Clodagh Hartley, who reports on political matters.
In the US, the company will plead guilty to offences of false accounting to settle bribery allegations made over the enormous al-Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia stretching back more than 20 years, as well as corruption allegations over arms deals in central Europe.
Switzerland opened its own criminal probe into 1MDB last August, targeting two former Malaysian officials "and persons unknown" on suspicion of bribery, money laundering and other offences.
MPs or journalists who pay public servants for confidential information may be guilty of bribery or corruption, and there are circumstances where they might commit specific offences under the Theft Act.
Its former owner (as well as of another Hilton in central Chongqing), Peng Zhimin, was jailed for life last year for various offences, including bribery and prostitution.
He said that if there were evidence of bribery or corruption in arms deals since new laws were introduced in 2001, then it would be a criminal offence.
