Archives :
2024
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Ben Foat: On His Terms
What a difference a bit of time off makes. The last time Ben Foat was questioned by the Inquiry, he looked like a rabbit in the headlights, nervously surveying the mess he’d made of the Post Office’s disclosure responsibilities. Today Foat gave evidence from a remote location, having declined to turn up in person, due…
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It’s Mike’s World. We just live in it.
It seems like we’ve got the Post Office scandal all wrong. The moment in 2012 the Post Office caved and finally agreed to get independent investigators Second Sight into the building was nothing to do with the campaign by MPs and Alan Bates’ Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance. It was, in fact, all down to the…
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Post Office misleads public inquiry over compensation
The Post Office Chief Executive has admitted withholding important information from the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. The revelation came right at the beginning of the second day of Post Office Chief Executive Nick Read’s testimony to the Inquiry, but related to a comment he made on the first. On Wednesday Read had told Jason…
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The Untouchables: someone’s lying
It’s only a minor point, but it speaks to integrity, so I’m going to make it. Nick Read – current Post Office chief executive – has been “accused” of describing certain people within the organisation as “untouchables”. During his first day of evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Read denied using the term,…
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Police interview third suspect in Post Office scandal investigation
Four-and-a-half years after their investigation into the Post Office scandal began, the Metropolitan Police have finally interviewed a third suspect under caution. The two other individuals were interviewed in October 2021 and again in September 2022. They are believed to be former Fujitsu engineers Gareth Jenkins and Anne Chambers. The third individual has not been…
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Post Office torpedoes its relationship with MoneyGram
The Post Office has ceased to trade with MoneyGram, a company which Post Office customers can use to send money abroad. One Subpostmaster told me “these transactions were a pain but they were one of the very few that paid a decent remuneration.” Writing on Monday, Ed Dutton, the Post Office’s Product Portfolio Director told…
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Board member spells out Post Office executive dysfunction
The utter dysfunction of the Post Office as an organisation has been laid bare by one of its serving directors. Saf Ismail was one of two Subpostmasters (the other being Elliot Jacobs) appointed to the Post Office board in 2021. Ismail appears to be a decent man, wholly unprepared for the mediocre, venal nature of…
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Majority of Subpostmasters still getting unexplained Horizon discrepancies
A majority of serving Subpostmasters have told the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal that they are still getting unexplained discrepancies generated by the Post Office’s Horizon IT system. Over the last twelve months, 57% of Subpostmasters told a wide-ranging independent survey that they have recorded unexplained discrepancies in their accounts. A whopping 92%…
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Post Office CEO Nick Read announces his departure
Nick Read, the Post Office Chief Executive, is standing down at the end of March next year. In an email to Subpostmasters (first picked by the ever-vigilant Sky News City Editor, Mark Kleinman) Read wrote: “it has been a privilege to work with you during what has been a challenging and difficult time for the…
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Horizon Compensation board Chair calls for Standing Compensation Authority
The Chair of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, Professor Chris Hodges, has called for the formation of a new compensation authority, with the statutory power to assess, decide and deliver compensation for victims of scandals. In a paper recently published on the HCAB section of the government’s website, Professor Hodges believes there is a need…