Packer 'sorry' over One.Tel bonuses

MEDIA heir James Packer took Rupert Murdoch and son Lachlan aside before a business meeting to apologise to them for the plummeting share price of Aussie telco One.Tel, a Sydney inquiry into the company's collapse has been told.

Lachlan Murdoch, in the witness box for a second day, said One.Tel director Packer asked for a private word before a meeting over its business plan in October 2000.

'I remember him apologising about the share price which was due in part to the bonuses (paid to One.Tel directors),' Murdoch said.

One.Tel failed in May of last year. The Packer and Murdoch families lost a combined A$950m (£332m) and said they were 'profoundly misled' by One.Tel executive directors as to its financial position.