Senior executives at the Post Office suggested that “lots and lots of cash lying around in unexpected places” might have meant sub-postmasters were led “into temptation”, rather than accept IT failings, an official inquiry has heard.
The inquiry into faulty Horizon IT software at the Post Office, and the associated prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting, heard evidence from former North East Hampshire MP Lord Arbuthnot on Wednesday.
He was a champion of victims in the late 2000s and 2010s and appeared in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which reinvigorated interest in the scandal’s miscarriages of justice.
As well as those who were wrongly prosecuted many more wracked up significant debts, lost their homes, were ostracised from their communities and suffered ill health, while some left the country.
Image: Lord Arbuthnot was played by actor Alex Jennings in Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Pic: Little Gem / ITV Studios
Rather than accept the IT system’s failings, senior officials within the Post Office told Lord Arbuthnot that sub-postmasters were led “into temptation”, he told the inquiry.
“Alice Perkins [former Post Office chair] and Paula Vennells [former chief executive] had both raised the problem of there being lots and lots of cash lying around in unexpected places,” Lord Arbuthnot said.
“I do not know whether that point – which Alice Perkins made strongly – affected her approach towards the honesty or otherwise of sub-postmasters,” the peer added in his witness statement to the inquiry.
Minutes recorded of what Ms Vennells said during a meeting with MPs in 2012 read: “It appears that some sub-postmasters have been borrowing money from the Post Office account/till in the same way they might do in a retail business, but this is not how the Post Office works.
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“Post Office cash is public money and the Post Office must recover it if any goes missing.”
Image: Lord Arbuthnot arrives to give evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. Pic: PA
Unsafe convictions
As early as March 2013 Lord Arbuthnot said he told the Post Office that its convictions of sub-postmasters could be unsafe as evidence of flaws within Horizon had been unearthed by forensic accountants Second Sight, who were hired by the organisation to investigate allegations.
Lord Arbuthnot felt this evidence undermined convictions and showed there was a risk the Post Office wasn’t doing its duty to disclose any evidence that might undermine its prosecution case or help sub-postmaster defendants.
Second Sight found Fujitsu – the company behind the Horizon system – could access Post Office accounts remotely.
Lord Arbuthnot told the inquiry: “If Fujitsu or the Post Office can manipulate a sub-postmaster’s account without the post business knowing about it, then how can you prosecute that sub-postmaster for something which could not be provably down to the postmaster?”
He added this fact alone undermined the “standard of proof required in a criminal trial”.
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Sub-postmaster victims of the faulty software were told they were the only ones having problems with Horizon – something Lord Arbuthnot found “profoundly wrong” and intimidating, as he was aware of several cases.
“There was something at the back of my mind which continued to trouble me, which was these people who were being told, ‘you are the only person this is happening to’.
“And that struck me as being profoundly wrong, because first – it was obviously disprovable. They were not the only people it was happening to.
“Second, it was isolating those sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses so they could not get support from others in the same position.
“And third, it had an element of intimidation about it, all of which set the Post Office and its way of operating with its sub-postmasters in a bad light.”
Image: Lord Arbuthnot arrives at the Post Office inquiry. Pic: PA
‘Government refusing to take responsibility’
The whole nature of the government’s hands-off approach to the Post Office, which it entirely owns, came in for criticism from Lord Arbuthnot as the inquiry heard of the numerous government ministers he contacted about the injustices.
“What this arm’s length arrangement essentially means is the government is refusing to take the responsibilities that go with ownership,” he said.
“If you have an organisation that is as important to the community as the Post Office is, then the people have got to be able to have proper control over it.”
Lord Arbuthnot also accused the Post Office of “stringing MPs along” in a “behind-the-scenes deception process” to cover up issues with the Horizon system.
He said the organisation grew increasingly defensive in 2013 after the investigation by Second Sight.
The peer said: “They knew there was a large number of bugs in the system that they hadn’t told MPs about.
“That’s what I know now, but I didn’t know that then.”
The peer also told the inquiry he was not satisfied with the “brush-off” response he received from Ms Vennells after he raised concerns over sub-postmaster complaints about the Horizon system.
During her time as managing director, Ms Vennells defended the Horizon system when it was queried by the former MP, describing it as “robust”.
Image: Paula Vennells during her time at the Post Office in 2016. Pic: PA
In a statement this week after the inquiry resumed, Paula Vennells said: “I continue to support and focus on cooperating with the inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.
“I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.
“I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded.”
A music video-streaming service whose shareholders include the U2 bassist Adam Clayton will this week announce that it has sealed a management buyout after months of talks.
Sky News understands that the assets of MagicWorks, which trades as ROXi, have been sold to a new company called FastStream Interactive (FSI), with backing from two major US-based broadcasters.
Sources said that Nasdaq-listed Sinclair and New York Stock Exchange-listed Gray Media were among the new shareholders in FSI, with the launch of new interactive TV Channels in the US expected to take place shortly.
The deal, which has involved raising millions of pounds of new equity from new and existing investors, has resulted in previous creditors of the business being repaid in full, according to the sources.
Its search for funding from the US was seen as vital because of the programme to roll out its FastScreen technology.
Founded in 2014, ROXi described itself as the world’s first ‘made-for-television’ service, allowing viewers to stream millions of songs and download hundreds of thousands of karaoke tracks.
Its broadcast channels allow viewers to skip through content in which they have no interest.
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Simon Cowell, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams were among the prominent music industry figures who had previously been named as ROXi investors.
Financiers including Guy Hands and Jim Mellon are said to be part of the new ownership structure.
In response to an enquiry from Sky News, Rob Lewis, FSI chief executive, said: “The new technology, FastStream, will revolutionise broadcast TV.
“For the first time in history, consumers tuning into a normal TV channel will find they automatically start at the beginning of the programme, and that they are able to skip, pause or search, even though they are watching normal broadcast TV”.
Begbies Traynor Group, the professional services firm, and Rockefeller Capital Management advised on the process.
Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.
Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.
City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.
Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.
The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.
It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.
The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.
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One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.
This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.
Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.
In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.
Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.
Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.
World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.
The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.
Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.
The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.
“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.
In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.
It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.
The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.
This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.
Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.
Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.
The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.
Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.
Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.
Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.
Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.
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London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.
It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.
“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.
“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.
“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”
Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.
The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.
Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.
Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.