Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells might be made to return bonus, minister says

Former Post Office chief Paula Vennells might be compelled handy again bonuses amid fury over the Horizon IT scandal, a minister has steered.

Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake admitted it was a mistake to award Ms Vennells a CBE in 2019, regardless of lots of of employees’ lives being torn aside by the best miscarriage of justice in British historical past. Ms Vennells stated on Tuesday that she would hand again the gong after greater than 1.2 million folks signed a petition calling for her to be stripped of the honour.

Mr Hollinrake steered as we speak that ministers may have a look at bonuses awarded to Ms Vennells throughout that point however warned towards a “witch hunt”. He stated it was vital that the general public inquiry into the Post Office scandal is ready to proceed.

It comes because the Government scrambles to discover a technique to exonerate lots of of postmasters who had been wrongly convicted between 1999 and 2015 after dodgy IT software program created discrepancies of their accounts. It is known that an announcement may come as early as as we speak, with Rishi Sunak resulting from face MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions at noon.

On Ms Vennells’s CBE, Mr Hollinrake advised BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I absolutely think looking back with the benefit of hindsight that was a mistake. We didn’t know then what we know now but nevertheless I do think that was a mistake looking back.”

Asked if she ought to return her bonuses, he stated: “One thing we should not have is trial by media. I think we should let the Inquiry run its course, it should report and identify individuals and organisations responsible at that point in time and then sanctions can be placed on those individuals.”

Pressed once more, he stated: “We don’t know Paula Vennells is the guilty party yet. I thought she should give her award back on the basis she was Chief Executive at the time of a great failure and scandal at the Post Office… It may well be that that’s a sanction we could place on Paula Vennells but I don’t think we want a witch hunt, a trial by media.”

Mr Hollinrake stated the Government was “very, very close” to discovering a technique to exonerate postmasters caught up within the scandal however work was ongoing. “The key thing is finding a mechanism so we can rapidly overturn convictions,” he stated.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk advised MPs on Tuesday that energetic consideration was being given to an emergency regulation to quash all of the convictions.