Archives :
2024
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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…
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Were some Subpostmaster discrepancies down to internal fraud?
Since the rollout of the Horizon IT system in 1999/2000, the Post Office has been unable to tell the difference between computer error and fraud. Whilst relentlessly pursuing innocent people, it potentially failed to spot the multiple ways public money could be leaking out of its network. In a podcast I hosted last year (Ep…
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Guest Post: Eleanor Shaikh on The Rt. Hon. Greg Clark
This post has been submitted by Eleanor Shaikh, a much-loved campaigner and activist, creator of the famous “SOS – Support our Subpostmasters” red banner, and author of the epic Origins of a Disaster, published on the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance website by Sir Alan Bates himself. Eleanor has chosen to address the evidence of The…
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Post Office Paula in Pant Topper Showstopper
I suppose it was only a matter of time. Even so, the first Horizon IT Inquiry-themed post box topper to materialise in the UK is quite the talking point. The well-executed tableau appeared overnight last night. It immortalises a crucial week of the Inquiry in May this year, when Lead Counsel Jason Beer KC questioned…