Post Office bosses accused of covering up IT scandal that ruined lives of staff

Post Office chiefs are to be quizzed over a suspected cover-up in the IT scandal that led to hundreds of post-
masters being wrongly prosecuted.

They will be asked if they knew computer specialists at the Japanese firm that supplied the £1billion system could access branch accounts remotely.

The Justice for Sub-Postmasters Alliance said: “The PO repeatedly insisted Fujitsu’s Horizon system was robust but evidence about remote access to accounts undermines their case.

“Nearly 700 staff might have had their convictions quashed years ago if the Post Office and Fujitsu had not covered up software flaws. They need to explain why this happened.”

Hundreds of staff were affected by the false prosecutions (PA)

So far 47 staff, wrongly accused of stealing from tills when computer glitches were to blame, have had their guilty verdicts overturned.

Compensation to them and up to 640 convicted others could total hundreds of millions of pounds.

There is no suggestion anyone deliberately altered information to make postmasters take the blame for accounting errors. A government inquiry is expected soon to re-question ex-PO chief exec Paula Vennells.

The Post Office said: “We are sorry for past failures and have undertaken wholesale reforms.”