David Cameron’s government knew the Post Office had dropped its investigation into Horizon IT flaws which could have exonerated wrongly-accused subpostmasters, a report has claimed.
Ministers were aware of a secret investigation into why branch managers’ cash accounts had been changed remotely in 2016, it’s been claimed.
The investigation could have helped those wrongly accused prove that there were flaws in the Horizon accounting software – but it was suddenly ditched after subpostmasters launched legal action.
A spokesperson for Lord Cameron pointed to his previous comments saying he could not remember being briefed about the Horizon scandal while he was prime minister.
The current foreign secretary, who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016 as hundreds of subpostmasters were being pursued, said in January: ‘I don’t recall in any detail being briefed or being aware of the scale of this issue.’
He added anyone who was involved in government over the last two decades had to be ‘extremely sorry’ for the miscarriage of justice.
The BBC reports there was no evidence that the former Tory leader was aware at the time of the investigation or that it had been scrapped.
The Horizon scandal saw more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
The revelations suggest the Post Office knew that Fujitsu staff could remotely amend cash balances in branch accounts, even though it later repeatedly claimed this was impossible.
And they raise questions over what ministers knew about the Post Office’s internal inquiry and why they allowed it to be junked.
The secret probe, detailed in official documents released to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, followed a government-ordered review that said remote access should be examined further.
Ministers, including then-business secretary Sir Sajid Javid, were then told Deloitte auditors were investigating to ‘address suggestions that branch accounts might have been remotely altered without complainants’ knowledge’ and review ‘security controls governing access to the digitally sealed electronic audit store of branch accounts’.
They were then informed through Post Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe that the probe had been abandoned in June 2016 on the advice of an unnamed senior barrister for the Post Office, when the subpostmasters had begun their legal action.
A spokesperson for Sir Sajid said: ‘Due to the ongoing independent inquiry, it would not be appropriate to comment.’
Downing Street also declined to comment due to the ongoing statutory inquiry chaired by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams.
Paul Marshall, a barrister who represented some subpostmasters, said the Post Office’s case before 2019 that remote access was impossible was not true.
He said: ‘It appears that the Post Office knew that it was untrue… years before the 2019 trial.
‘The question is how the Post Office’s formal legal case in defence to the claims of more than 500 postmasters was put forward by the Post Office when it was both factually wrong, and, as the judge said, “untrue”.’
Hundreds of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses are still awaiting compensation despite the government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.
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