The 102 top firms who hired hackers... but the police won't name them: MPs furious after being told to 'keep this report locked in a safe' The Serious Organised Crime Agency compiled the list as far back as 2008 But report was suppressed even as the media was investigated over hacking By Chris Greenwood, James Slack and Jack Doyle Secret list of hackers: Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz said he would try to find a way of releasing the names The true extent of the "secret" phone-hacking scandal involving law firms, insurers and high-profile business people was laid bare last night. More than 100 companies and individuals are suspected of fuelling the trade in illicit information obtained by hacking, blagging and theft. The Serious Organised Crime Agency finally handed an explosive list containing 102 names to MPs yesterday. But, to the fury of members of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, it insisted that it remain secret to protect those involved. Last month it emerged that as long ago as 2008 Soca compiled a dossier outlining how firms and individuals hired "unscrupulous" private investigators. They broke the law to obtain sensitive information including mobile phone records, bank statements and other personal data. However, the report - which showed the practices went far wider than the media - was suppressed and did not form part of Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry. He refused to admit the documentation, saying it was outside his narrow terms of reference. Critics question why the media has been the subject of a public inquiry and multi-million-pound criminal investigation while others "got away with it." Lawyers, insurers, money exchanges and high-profile individuals fuelling the trade for sensitive information were never prosecuted. But journalists were dragged out of their beds at dawn, arrested and questioned over allegations of phone hacking and bribing public officials. No one at Soca appeared to push the report forward as three Scotland Yard inquiries focused almost entirely on the media. Last night, after weeks of demands from MPs for the identities of businesses and individuals involved to be published, Soca finally agreed to let the Home Affairs Committee see the list - but only under strict rules of confidentiality. It demanded the list be "kept in a safe in a locked room, within a secure building and that the document should not be left unattended on a desk at any time." Initially, Soca wanted only committee chairman Keith Vaz to have access to the documents. Officials claimed that publishing the names could harm the commercial interests of those involved and even "breach their human rights." Widespread criminality: The report - which showed the practices went far wider than the media - was suppressed and did not form part of Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into phone hacking in the Press In theory, the move prevents the committee from making public the names or referring to them in any subsequent report. But last night Mr Vaz, who has led questioning of Soca's shortcomings, said he would try to find a way of releasing the names. He said: "Those companies or individuals who either instructed private investigators to break the law or did nothing to stop them must be held to account." Mr Vaz said police had claimed any publicity could undermine ongoing or future criminal investigations, but added: "These events took place up to five years ago. I will be writing to the police to ask in how many cases their investigations are ongoing. Committee member James Clappison attacked the secret arrangements, saying: "I do not believe the full extent of phone hacking has been brought out. We need complete transparency and the public needs to know what has been going on. The public were very concerned about the original phone-hacking revelations. There is no reason they should not be concerned about these new revelations. The Soca website: Pressure is now mounting on the agency to explain why its report was not released at the height of the phone hacking scandal in 2011, leaving ministers in the dark about the true scale of the problem Pressure is now mounting on Soca to explain why, at the height of the phone-hacking scandal in 2011, it made no attempt to alert ministers that lawyers, insurance companies and other blue-chip firms were also involved. In an exchange with Tory MP Nicola Blackwood, Soca director general Trevor Pearce admitted the Home Office had not been contacted to highlight the 2008 report. He said it had been passed to then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and that had been considered sufficient. But Mrs Smith and the Labour government had departed, and the current Home Secretary, Theresa May, had no way of knowing what had been going on. It meant that when the Leveson terms of reference were being drawn up, ministers were in the dark about the activities of legal firms, insurers and others. Last night Miss Blackwood said: "In a separate report in 2010, Soca identified private investigators as one of four key sources of police corruption. I cannot understand why they did not make these points to the Home Office when the Leveson Inquiry terms of reference were being set.