News | Politics A draft report has revealed the Post Office was aware of evidence that losses could be due to errors in the Horizon IT system but still pressed ahead with the Bates v Post Office Ltd case. Campaigner Alan Bates led a group of 555 sub-postmasters who took the Post Office to the High Court over the scandal, which was settled in December 2019. Details of the document, first reported by the
BBC , show “Post Office management” knew sub-postmasters may not be to blame for data discrepancies but continued to fight them in court regardless. The draft report, called Bramble, was commissioned by the Post Office in March 2016 and carried out by consultancy firm Deloitte. In the report, the firm said it had discussed its findings with “Post Office management”. Errors in the Horizon IT system or remote tampering could have been responsible for losses discovered at branches, the report said. Mr Bates’ story recently became the subject of an ITV drama titled Mr Bates vs The Post Office, starring
Actor Toby Jones. At a secretly recorded Post Office meeting in July 2013, attended remotely by then chief executive Paula Vennells, management heard sub-postmasters’ Horizon computers could be accessed remotely. In 2015, Ms Vennells told MPs she was not aware of any miscarriage of justice. The former chief executive ran the Post Office while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system, and wrongfully prosecuted hundreds of sub-postmasters. During the recording, obtained and aired by ITV News , investigators tasked by the Post Office with looking into possible issues with the system told her explicitly about allegations that accounts could be accessed remotely. The Post Office continued to deny remote access was possible until 2019. Calls for
police investigation over recordings of Post Office executives Leaders ‘hopeful’ that subpostmaster exoneration law will be extended to NI Hunt pledges to keep 'triple lock' on pension if Tories win
election Buying a new car? Here's why Omoda needs to be on your radar The latest development comes after a senior MP called for police to investigate a series of covert recordings from 2013 which include Post Office executives discussing the Horizon IT scandal. Liam Byrne, chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee, said the recordings were “the first evidence that people knew there was a problem”. The recordings, uncovered on Wednesday by Channel 4 News, contained conversations between Post Office executives and two forensic accountants on May 22 2013. These conversations – which included Post Office company secretary Alwen Lyons and Post Office chief lawyer Susan Crichton – suggest they knew there was an issue with the company’s Fujitsu IT system two years before the last sub-postmasters were jailed, in 2015. Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted of stealing after the Post Office’s defective Horizon accounting system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches. The Post Office also forced at least 4,000 branch managers to pay back cash based on the flawed data. Some victims were sent to
prison or financially ruined, others were shunned by their communities while some took their own lives. An inquiry into the Post Office and the Horizon IT scandal will continue next month. MORE ABOUT