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.
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.”
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.”
‘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”.
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 former Post Office executive has said she was forced to block ex-boss Paula Vennells’ phone number after the ex-CEO called multiple times asking for help to avoid an independent inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Lesley Sewell, previously the company’s head of IT, told the Post Office inquiry on Thursday that former CEO Ms Vennells had reached out to her four times between 2020 and 2021.
Ms Sewell said that she blocked Ms Vennells’ number due to discomfort with the contact.
In her witness statement to the probe, Ms Sewell said that one of Ms Vennells’ emails referenced the need to fill in memory gaps regarding Horizon and “Project Sparrow”, a committee addressing issues with forensic accountants who identified flaws in the accounting system.
“Paula contacted me on four occasions in total. I recall blocking her number after the last call as I did not feel comfortable with her contacting me,” Ms Sewell said.
“I had not spoken to Paula since I had left POL [Post Office Limited] in 2015.”
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According to Ms Sewell’s testimony, former chief executive Ms Vennells said that she had “been asked at short notice” to appear before a parliamentary select committee on “all things Horizon/Sparrow and need to plug some memory gaps”.
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Ms Sewell says Ms Vennells added: “My hope is this might help avoid an independent inquiry but to do so, I need to be well prepared.”
Ms Sewell, who struggled to contain her emotions and broke down in tears while giving her oath at the start of her inquiry evidence, was offered support and breaks as needed by chairman Sir Wyn Williams.
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Sir Wyn told the former executive: “Ms Sewell, I appreciate this may be upsetting for you, Ms Price will ask you a number of questions in a proper and sensible manner, but if at any time you feel you need a break, just let me know, all right?”
The Post Office has faced significant scrutiny following the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office which highlighted the Horizon IT scandal.
The faulty system led to the prosecution of more than 700 sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015, with many still awaiting full compensation despite government announcements regarding payouts for those with quashed convictions.
London City Airport will on Thursday name its first permanent female chief executive as it targets approval of an expansion plan that would create nearly 1,500 jobs.
Sky News understands that the Docklands airport has told staff that Alison FitzGerald, who has been co-CEO since January alongside finance chief Wilma Allan, has landed the role.
She replaces Robert Sinclair, who left in January after six years to become boss of the High Speed 1 rail link.
The airport is owned by a consortium of Canadian pension funds and Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, which have backed a plan to increase its annual passenger traffic from about 6.5m to 9m.
It is appealing against Newham Council’s rejection of a planning application that would see it extend operating hours at the site, which is popular with City commuters.
The airport’s proposals include no increase in the annual number of flights and, in what it claims is a first for a UK airport, a commitment that only cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft will be allowed to fly in any extended periods.
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The appeal is being reviewed by the Independent Planning Inspector.
Its change of leadership makes London City the second of the capital’s airports to name a new CEO in quick succession, following the arrival at Heathrow of Thomas Woldbye last year.
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“London City delivers one of the best passenger experiences in the UK and I’m committed to building on this success even further,” Ms FitzGerald said.
Representatives of Thames Water’s multinational syndicate of shareholders are poised to quit as directors of its corporate entities after refusing to inject the billions of pounds of funding required to bail it out.
Sky News has learnt that a number of board members at companies connected to Kemble Water Finance, Thames’s parent, are expected to resign in the coming days.
City sources described the move as “the logical next step” after the owners of Britain’s biggest water utility said they would not commit more than £3bn to help upgrade its ageing infrastructure and shore up its debt-laden balance sheet.
A default on part of Thames Water‘s holding company debts last month has raised the prospect that the company is heading towards special administration, a form of insolvency that would effectively leave the government liable for managing a utility firm which serves nearly a quarter of Britain’s population.
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Thames Water under threat
Thames Water is owned by a group of sovereign wealth funds and pension funds from countries including Abu Dhabi, Australia, Britain, Canada and China.
A number of the investors are represented on boards which sit at various points in the group’s labyrinthine capital structure.
It was unclear on Wednesday whether Michael McNicholas, a representative of the giant Canadian pension fund Omers and who sits on the board of Thames Water Utilities Limited, was among those in the process of stepping down.
Along with the rest of the privately owned water industry, Thames Water faces a crucial moment next month when Ofwat, the industry regulator, publishes its draft determination on companies’ five-year business plans.
The draft rulings will be subject to negotiation before final versions are published in December.
Thames Water and a spokesman for Kemble declined to comment.