GOVERNMENT KNEW POST OFFICE AXED HORIZON IT PROBE
Cameron’s team was informed
DAVID Cameron’s government knew the Post Office was blocking an investigation into the Horizon IT system, it has been revealed.
A probe was launched in February 2016 into concerns that postmasters’ accounts could be remotely accessed without their knowledge.
But just four months later, a Tory minister was informed the investigation was being abandoned because a group of postmasters, led by Alan Bates, had started their legal challenge.
Tim Parker, who was Post Office chairman at the time, told Baroness Neville-Rolfe he had taken the decision following advice from lawyers.
In a document, obtained by the BBC, he wrote: “Post Office Limited has received very strong advice from Leading Counsel that the work being undertaken under the aegis of my review should come to an immediate end. I have therefore instructed that the work being undertaken pursuant to my review should now be stopped.”
The Horizon IT system ruined the lives of hundreds of Post Office workers when it falsely made it look like money was missing from their branches.
Postmasters were wrongly blamed for the shortfalls and made to cover the losses, with more than 900 convicted and some sent to prison.
Mr Bates, who was portrayed by Toby Jones in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, led a group of 555 workers who took the Post Office to court.
The High Court found in their favour in 2019 after they successfully argued it was possible for Fujitsu, the firm behind the Horizon software, to access their accounts without their knowledge and change the figures.
The Post Office argued this was not possible, but a Deloitte probe concluded in 2014 there were two ways it could be done. Senopathy Narenthiran, pictured below, a former postmaster from Ramsgate, Kent, who was wrongly sentenced to three years in jail, wiped away tears as he was told about the information.
He said: “By knowing all this, why do we waste all our time in the prison and separate from our family? I don’t know.
“I’m 69 years old – too old to go through all these things.”
A spokesman for Lord Cameron, now Foreign Secretary, pointed to comments he made last month when he said he did not “recall in any detail being briefed or being aware of the scale of this issue”. Downing Street declined to comment due to the ongoing Post Office inquiry, chaired by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams.
Why do we waste our time in the prison and separate from our family? I don’t know
SENOPATHY NARENTHIRAN, WRONGLY JAILED SUBPOSTMASTER