POST OFFICE ‘WHITEWASH’

Fears over ‘toothless’ IT inquiry

AN INQUIRY into the postmasters IT scandal risks becoming a whitewash, Labour warned last night.

It said the probe ‘has no teeth’ and its scope must change to deliver justice.

The Government is being urged to give the inquiry powers to compel witnesses to be questioned and to demand documents.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting after the Horizon IT system was introduced to Post Office branches in 1999.

Post Office chairman Tim Parker recently apologised for ‘historical failings’ and said reforms will stop such events happening again.

But Labour, in a letter to business minister Paul Scully, has warned the inquiry has no teeth. It wants ministers to give the inquiry the right to demand documents, including emails from the Post Office, the Business Department and Fujitsu, the firm that developed Horizon.

The party believes that, as it stands, it will be ‘impossible to truly uncover how the scandal happened’.

Labour has also criticised rules that mean inquiry judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams cannot consider compensation for those affected. Business spokesman Chi Onwurah said: ‘Any inquiry worth its salt must get to the bottom of what happened, identify who was responsible, and make recommendations to ensure the injustice was put right.’

In a historic victory this month, 44 postmasters were told their convictions are set to be overturned in the Court of Appeal.

The Daily Mail’s campaign to sav e village post offices has repeatedly highlighted the IT scandal.