It is being reported that the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson continued to be paid by News International while employed by the ruling Conservative Party.
Mr Coulson was forced to resign from the newspaper over the phone-hacking scandal before working for British Prime Minister David Cameron while opposition and then at Downing Street.
Radio New Zealand's London correspondent reports it is understood Mr Coulson received several hundred thousand dollars from News International after taking on his new role at the Conservatives as the party's director of communications in 2007.
He had been forced to resign from the News of the World over the hacking scandal which at the time the tabloid claimed was limited to a rogue reporter and private investigator.
The BBC reports the payments were part of Mr Coulson's severance package. Senior Conservative Party figures say they know nothing about he money or the fact he kept his company car.
Mr Coulson left the Prime Minister's office in January this year, just before police reopened an investigation in which Mr Coulson and his predecessor as editor, Rebekah Brooks, have been arrested and bailed over the scandal.
Mr Coulson has denied any knowledge of phone hacking while editor.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch killed off the 168-year-old News of the World in July as the crisis threatened to infect the rest of his empire.
The paper printed its last edition on 10 July after it was accused of hacking into the phones of teenage murder victim Milly Dowler, the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and relatives of victims of the 2005 London bombings.
Scotland Yard says up to 4000 people may have had their voicemails accessed and is investigating claims the paper paid police for information.
