News Corp. has settled 37 cases of phone hacking at a cost of possibly £10m, The Guardian has reported. As part of the process, the media conglomerate made what a high court called an “admission of sorts” that it covered up evidence of phone hacking by its British tabloid newspapers.

The Guardian said:

Mr Justice Vos, the judge presiding over the hacking cases, told News Group Newspapers (NGN) he had seen evidence which raised “compelling questions about whether you concealed, told lies, actively tried to get off scot free”.

…NGN refused to admit the allegations but agreed that damages paid to the victims could be assessed “on the basis of the facts alleged”.

Earlier it emerged that while the company refused to admit its former directors and senior executives had presided over a cover-up, it agreed that “aggravated damages” could be calculated “as if” the allegations that they lied, obstructed police and destroyed evidence were true. The Murdoch subsidiary said it had made the concessions solely for the purpose of “the interest of the prompt and efficient determination” of the claims against it.

You may recall that News Corp. had previously claimed that phone hacking was the work of a rogue reporter.

Despite the huge settlement, News Corp.’s phone hacking woes are not over. The newspaper group has been ordered to allow a search of its computers alleged to contain evidence that executives deliberately destroyed damning phone-hacking evidence in advance of a civil trial related to phone hacking claims.