Hunt: We’ll do all we can to speed up compensation to victims of Post Office scandal
As Met confirms criminal probe...
JEREMY HUNT has said he will do ‘everything’ he can to speed up compensation for the hundreds of sub-postmasters who were wrongfully prosecuted.
The Chancellor added: ‘We want to do this as fast as possible.’
The scandal, which stemmed from problems with the Horizon IT system, has been described as one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in British history.
More than 700 Post Office managers were handed criminal convictions after the faulty accounting software made it appear as though money was missing from their branches between 1999 and 2015.
The scandal is subject to an ongoing public inquiry. A large number of victims wrongfully convicted are waiting to receive justice. Last year the Government said victims would be offered £600,000 each in compensation. In total so far, about £138 million has been paid. Mr Hunt told the BBC yesterday: ‘We want to do this as fast as possible. So we hear that message loud and clear, we will look into doing everything we can to speed up the payment of compensation.’
It comes as the Metropolitan Police confirmed for the first time that it is conducting a criminal investigation into the Post Office.
The scandal has been dramatised by ITV into a four-part series, Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Toby Jones plays Alan Bates, a former sub-postmaster who campaigned to expose the truth about glitches in the Post Office’s IT system.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were bankrupted or jailed and at least four took their own lives.
The Horizon IT system was developed by Japanese tech giant Fujitsu, which continues to run the Post Office’s systems. On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, the real Mr Bates called on the Chancellor to ‘light a fire’ under officials overseeing the compensation paid to Post Office branch managers.
Mr Hunt said: ‘I heard that loud and clear. This is a horrific scandal. I had a wonderful postmaster in Farnham in my constituency who was appallingly wronged by this scandal and that’s why I’m very pleased that we’ve set up this inquiry. We’ve already given out, I think, nearly £150million in compensation. I want to do everything we can to speed up that process.’
Scotland Yard said it is ‘investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions’, for example ‘monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions’.
Paula Vennells, who oversaw the Post Office while it denied that there were problems with its IT system, said she is ‘truly sorry’. Fifty new potential victims contacted lawyers after the ITV drama.