Post Office Horizon Scandal: Who Is In The Spotlight Now?

The Post Office scandal is rolling on – and the list of parties who are facing scrutiny over any role they may have played is growing.

Faults with the company’s IT system Horizon meant hundreds of sub-postmasters were falsely accused of fraud, theft and false accounting between 2000 and 2015.

Now, the scandal has come back into the mainstream – after ITV drama’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office aired – but most of its 700 victims are yet to receive compensation.

The government is looking to overturn those convictions en masse, and questioning whether to remove the Post Office of its powers to prosecute, while the Metropolitan Police has launched a probe into “potential fraud offences as a result of the wrongful prosecutions.”

But, this stretches far beyond the Post Office. As the fallout continues and the public inquiry into the scandal gains momentum, more and more people are being pulled into the spotlight.

Fujitsu

The company who created Horizon, Fujitsu, is facing questions over its responsibility with the case.

According to the Financial Times, since Rishi Sunak became chancellor and later PM, £3.6 billion of government contracts have been awarded to the firm – meaning Tory MPs are now calling for a hiatus in the deal while the scandal is ongoing.

The Met Police’s probe into Fujitsu Horizon and the Post Office began in January 2020, after a referral from the Director of Public Prosecutions for potential offences of “perjury and perverting the course of justice”.

The force has also interviewed two former Fujitsu employees over potential fraud offences. No arrests have been made.

The Mirror hears from former Computer Weekly Editor Tony Collins that getting anything from Fujitsu is “not going to happen” because it is “intricately woven” into the government’s operations.

The firm is expected to be in charge of removing postmasters’ names from criminal records databases once they’re cleared as well, according to the Mail.

Paula Vennells 

As the former chief executive of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, Vennells has faced significant backlash since the scandal re-emerged.

A petition calling for her to be stripped of her CBE – awarded for her services to the Post Office – reached 1.2 million signatures on Tuesday before she chose to hand it back herself. In a statement, she said she was “truly sorry for the devastation” caused to the victims.

Vennells added that she will not be saying anymore publicly until she has given evidence to the ongoing probe.

But, she’s still in the spotlight, with some calling for her to return the £3 million she has accrued in bonuses and pension for her job at the Post Office. 

As campaigners claim she rejected initial warnings about problems with the software, it’s unclear what she knew about the problems and when.

And, her short-lived CBE means questions have arisen for how the honors system hands out gongs. 

Crown Prosecution Service

The CPS, headed by now Labour leader Keir Starmer between 2008 and 2013, was not the primary prosecutor during the height of the scandal – that was the Post Office itself.

However, it is now facing questions after The Telegraph reported “at least 27” cases were brought by the CPS. It is currently looking through its historic cases, meaning there may be up to 50 in total, according to the CPS.

It’s not clear if Starmer was in charge of the service when these cases took place.

Critics are now asking if the prosecution service was responsible for some of the wrongful convictions.

A CPS spokesperson told The Telegraph: “We’ve worked extensively and identified a small number of CPS cases which involved evidence connected to Horizon. In these cases, we have written to those defendants to disclose information so they could pursue an appeal.”

Ed Davey

The current leader of the Liberal Democrats, Davey was the postal affairs minister in David Cameron’s Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, between 2010 and 2012.

He rejected campaigner Alan Bates’ repeated calls for a meeting over the “flaws” in the Horizon system back in 2010, but later agreed to it.

Davey told The Guardian he then took Bates’ “argument to the Post Office but I was lied to”.

His apparent inaction during his time in government means he’s facing pressure to give up his knighthood.

Victims also told The Times that he has “questions to answer”.

As noted in the Daily Mail, he has also been criticised for working as a consultant with the City company Herbert Smith Freehills from 2015 until 2021 – the firm was the Post Office’s legal adviser between 2019 and 2023.

It helped the Post Office when postmasters launched a case against them 2019.

Davey’s spokesperson told the Mail: “Ed had no knowledge that HSF held this account and never had any conversations about the Post Office or Horizon scandal at any occasion with HSF.”

The Lib Dem spokesperson instead said Vennells “was at the heart of a conspiracy of lies against the public, victims and ministers from all parties”.

Davey has not admitted to any responsibility in the case, and has refused to return his knighthood. He claims he was “misled and lied to” by the Post Office.