Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells was told directly about problems with the flawed Horizon IT system and was warned it would be 'dangerous' to cover it up, a new bombshell secret recording revealed last night.
The shocking injustice was thrown back into the spotlight in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, based on campaigner Alan Bates's bid for justice. Ms Vennells was informed of the allegations that sub-postmaster branch accounts could be accessed remotely The pair said: 'When you say they didn't have access to the Horizon system, but actually they were passing entries to live data...that is really dangerous ground.
'We're not just asking whether people in that basement had access to live systems, even if your answer is, they did have access to what they called the live system, but it wasn't live, which itself, you know, we're having to kind of word carefully to make it sound other than stupid... Pressure was mounting on the Post Office to face criminal action last night after secret recordings on Wednesday and Thursday proved its bosses covered up the Horizon IT scandal
The first involved a call with IT specialist Simon Baker, in which it is admitted there is a possibility that sub-postmasters' accounts could be altered without their knowledge. In the second recording, the Second Sight accountants present their evidence to Post Office company secretary Ms Lyons and chief lawyer Ms Crichton – one day before then CEO Paula Vennells met with victims campaigner Lord Arbuthnot.
'This is potentially perjury, this is contempt of Parliament, it's a miscarriage of justice. I mean, there's a whole host of sins here.Lord Arbuthnot broke down in tears when shown the evidence. He said: 'I've been doing this for 14, 15 years now and to think that a British institution could behave like this, owned by us, is just terrible.'The Post Office also forced at least 4,000 branch managers to pay back cash based on the flawed data.
A report by the Commons business committee suggested Mr Read, who is under internal investigation over his conduct, misled MPs on 'at least two counts'. Regarding evidence given in recent months by Mr Read, it added: 'Mr Read concurred that reform of the Post Office's culture is still a 'work in progress,' not 'job done.'
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