COVERT recordings may prove Post Office executives covered up the the Horizon IT scandal for years.
The recordings, obtained and aired by Channel 4 News on Wednesday, allegedly contain conversations between Post Office executives and two forensic accountants on May 22, 2013.
The conversations are said to have included Post Office company secretary Alwen Lyons and Post Office chief lawyer Susan Crichton.
They reportedly suggest they knew there was an issue with the company’s Fujitsu IT system two years before the last subpostmasters were jailed in 2015.
In an initial conversation, accountants Ian Henderson and Ron Warmington raised their concerns about adjustments made in the Fujitsu IT system to Post Office IT specialist Simon Baker, and there being no controls on it.
They then questioned whether the subpostmasters knew about the adjustments, according to C4News.
Mr Henderson said: “Based on the email traffic that I’ve seen, there’s nothing to indicate that he or she was informed.”
Mr Baker later said: “I told them (Ms Lyons and Ms Crichton) that I’ve just found out from Fujitsu that there is a mechanism and their faces dropped.”
Another recording allegedly contains a meeting between the accountants, Ms Lyons and Ms Crichton later that day.
Mr Henderson said “someone needs to brief Paula (Vennells, then Post Office chief executive)” about the issue.
Mr Henderson and Mr Warmington were subsequently sacked by the Post Office.
Liam Byrne, chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee, said the recordings were “the first evidence that people knew there was a problem”.
Giving his reaction to Channel 4 News, Mr Byrne said: “Pure rage, pure rage.
“Here you’ve got people in the Post Office – you’ve got the first evidence here from 2013 that people knew there was a problem.
“The point is not just that they mislead Parliament, they were sending people to prison as late as 2015, two years after these recordings are being made.”
Mr Byrne also posted on X, formerly Twitter: “We must now ask whether police have enough evidence to bring those who jailed the innocent to justice”.
Hundreds of subpostmasters 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.
The harrowing story was retold in the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which has left viewers appalled and astonished.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “The statutory Public Inquiry, chaired by a judge with the power to question witnesses under oath, is the best forum to examine the issues raised by this evidence.
“We continue to remain fully focused on supporting the Inquiry get to the truth of what happened and accountability for that.”
– 1999
The Horizon IT system starts to be rolled out in Post Office branches across the UK.
– 2000
Alan Bates reports issues with the Horizon IT system.
– 2003
Alan Bates has his contract terminated after refusing to accept liability for the shortfalls in the accounts at his Llandudno branch in North Wales.
– 2004
Lee Castleton, from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was found to have a £25,000 shortfall at his branch. He was made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office.
– 2009
Computer Weekly magazine breaks the story of seven subpostmasters beginning their fight for justice.
The Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance is established.
– 2010
Pregnant subpostmaster Seema Misra, who ran a post office in West Byfleet, Surrey, is jailed after being accused of stealing £74,000.
– 2015
Post Office boss Paula Vennells tells the business select committee that there is no evidence of miscarriages of justice.
Post Office halts prosecutions of subpostmasters.
– 2017
Legal action is launched against the Post Office by a group of 555 subpostmasters.
– 2019
A High Court judge rules that Horizon contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.
The Post Office agreed to pay out £58million to the 555 subpostmasters.
Post Office boss Paula Vennells is appointed a CBE.
– 2020
The Post Office does not oppose 44 appeals against convictions of subpostmasters.
– 2021
A statutory inquiry looking into the failings of the Horizon system and the wrongful convictions of subpostmasters begins.
The Court of appeal quashes 39 wrongful crown court convictions.
– 2023
The Government announces that every wrongly convicted subpostmaster will be offered £600,000 in compensation.
– 2024
ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office airs for the first time.
The Metropolitan Police say they are looking at “potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions”, for example “monies recovered from subpostmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”.
