The former undercover journalist known as the Fake Sheikh has been charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
It follows the collapse of the drugs trial of pop star and former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos in July last year.
Mazher Mahmood is alleged to have misled the court, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Mahmood, who used to work for the now defunct News of the World and The Sun on Sunday, denies the charge.
“I am deeply disappointed that, after a totally unjustified delay, the Crown Prosecution Service have today informed me that they have decided to charge me with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice,” he said in a statement issued through his lawyers.
“I deny the offence. I will vigorously contest it at court.
“In the meantime, I have nothing further to say.”
Mahmood is charged alongside Alan Smith, a driver. The pair will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Wednesday.
Nick Vamos, deputy head of Special Crime at the CPS, said: “The CPS has… charged Mazher Mahmood and Alan Smith with conspiring to pervert the course of justice after a full file of evidence was submitted by the Metropolitan Police on 5 June this year.
“After carefully considering all of the evidence, the CPS has decided that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to charge both men.
“This decision comes after it was alleged that Mr Smith agreed with Mr Mahmood to change his statement to police as part of a trial in July 2014, and that Mr Mahmood then misled the court.”
Contostavlos, 27, was accused of helping to supply cocaine after an expose in The Sun on Sunday following a sting by Mahmood.
He posed as a film producer and led her to believe she was in the running for a £3.5m film deal along with Keira Knightley and Kate Winslet.
In an interview with Sky News, Contostavlos said she played up to the role of a bad girl to get the job.
She vehemently denied being concerned with the supply of Class A drug and her case was eventually thrown out by a judge at Southwark Crown Court.
Mahmood spent 25 years as an undercover reporter and claims to have helped put more than 100 criminals behind bars.
ref:skynews
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