Paula Vennells earned £17,500 from a Government job she was allowed to maintain even after the Horizon scandal was uncovered.
The former Post Office was appointed to the board of the Cabinet Office in February 2019, shortly after she was given a CBE. She remained within the position till March 2020, receiving a complete of £17,500 in taxpayers’ cash.
In the Commons immediately, Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake admitted it was a “mistake” that she was not sacked sooner.
The Horizon IT system ruined the lives of a whole bunch of Post Office employees when it mistakenly made it appear to be cash was lacking from their branches. Postmasters had been wrongly blamed for the shortfalls and made to cowl the losses, with a whole bunch convicted and a few put in jail.
In December 2019, the High Court dominated that Horizon contained numerous “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls had been attributable to the system.
Daisy Cooper, Deputy Leader Liberal Democrats, immediately requested why Ms Vennells was not faraway from her Cabinet Office job as quickly because the ruling was made. In response, Mr Hollinrake advised MPs: “I think with hindsight, many people would see that as a mistake.”
Give Alan Bates an honour for exposing Post Office scandal
It is time for Alan Bates to be honoured with a CBE or knighthood after former Post Office boss Paula Vennells handed again her gong.
Usually honours are introduced to mark the New Year and the Monarch’s birthday, however in particular circumstances they will also be awarded at different instances.
So Rishi Sunak, give Alan Bates an honour now.
Sign our petition HERE to demand Alan Bates will get an honour.
Ms Vennells introduced on Tuesday that she was handing again her CBE. In an announcement, the previous Post Office boss who was CEO from 2012 to 2019, mentioned: “I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence. I am, however, aware of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE. I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.”
She added: “I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system. I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded.”
Ms Cooper has mentioned that Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden should be held accountable for not sacking Ms Vennells. He was a Cabinet Office minister on the time she held the position. The Lib Dem MP mentioned: “Paula Vennells is true at hand again her CBE, however the Conservatives nonetheless want to elucidate why they gave it to her within the first place in 2019, together with a plum job on the high of the Cabinet Office.
“Oliver Dowden needs to explain why he failed to sack Paula Vennells as a Cabinet Office Director when the High Court judgment was handed down in 2019, exposing her full involvement in the Horizon scandal. Nobody rewarded Paula Vennells more than this Conservative Government.”