Police probe Post Office over ‘potential fraud offences’

The Post Office is below prison investigation for fraud after the wrongful prosecution of sub-postmasters.

Scotland Yard confirmed final evening that the organisation is being investigated by detectives for alleged fraud offences over their dealing with of the Horizon scandal.

Nearly 100 sub-postmasters had been wrongly convicted of fraud, theft and false accounting because of the bug-ridden Horizon IT system.

More than 700 employees had their lives ruined between 1999 and 2015, after they had been accused of the crimes and dragged by the courts on the premise of proof gathered by the unreliable laptop programme.

For greater than 20 years, former Post Office employees fought to clear their names. Now they’re able the place these answerable for their struggling are below investigation.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police advised The Times that officers are ‘investigating potential fraud offences arising out of those prosecutions’, referring to ‘monies recovered from sub-postmasters because of prosecutions or civil actions’.

Former publish workplace employees celebrating outdoors the Royal Courts of Justice after their convictions had been overturned by the Court of Appeal in April 2021

The Post Office is below prison investigation over the wrongful prosecution of tons of of sub-postmasters, the Metropolitan Police confirmed for the primary time on Friday evening

It isn’t clear whether or not the Post Office as a complete, or people, are being investigated.

Jo Hamilton, 66, a former sub-postmaster from Hampshire, mentioned: ‘They have made folks’s lives a distress they usually have dedicated crimes. It is not only a pc downside — that is absolute corruption at its worst, state-sponsored corruption.’

Paul Marshall, a barrister who represents a number of of the wrongly convicted postmasters, mentioned: ‘The emergence of in-formation suggesting that the Met police is taking a look at fraud in reference to the Post Office’s conduct is wholly unsurprising.

‘Once it’s accepted that postmasters weren’t experiencing actual shortfalls at their branches, the cash that the Post Office obtained from them, by calls for… had been themselves improper calls for for cash and cash that was obtained unlawfully.

‘The actuality due to this fact seems to have been that the Post Office obtained massive sums of cash from its postmasters on grounds that had been false and that had been recognized by it to be false.’

There is at present a public inquiry into the fiasco, which has lately been dramatisied in ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

Since the four-part drama aired 50 former employees have come ahead, with 5 in search of to enchantment their convictions.

News that the Post Office is being investigated for fraud comes simply days after legal professionals to the inquiry mentioned there may be sufficient proof to carry an investigation for perverting the course of justice.

Jo Hamilton, 66, a former sub-postmaster from Hampshire, mentioned: ‘They have made folks’s lives a distress they usually have dedicated crimes’ 

The spokesman from the Met acknowledged this, including: ‘The Met is investigating potential offences of perjury and per-verting the course of justice.

‘These potential offences come up out of investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.

The investigation was launched in January 2020 following a referral from the Director of Public Prosecutions. Two folks have been interviewed below warning.

‘Nobody has been arrested.’

Former postmaster Alan Bates, who’s portrayed by Toby Jones within the new drama, led and gained the preliminary authorized battle after himself falling sufferer to the faults

It is perceive that prime prison prosecutor Tom Little KC has been approached to overview the proof amassed and to contemplate whether or not a prosecution could be introduced.

A spokesman for the Post Office mentioned: ‘We share absolutely the goals of the general public inquiry to get to the reality of what went incorrect previously and set up accountability. It’s for the inquiry to succeed in its personal in-dependent conclusions after consideration of all of the proof on the problems that it’s analyzing. It can be inappropriate for the Post Office to touch upon any police investigation.’