Did government allow Post Office to sack forensic accountants to cover up Horizon scandal?
Summary
A lawyer has questioned the government’s role in attempts to cover up the Post Office scandal, which saw subpostmasters’ lives destroyed after they were wrongly blamed and punished for branch account shortfalls. In 2012, as part of an external review triggered by pressure from MPs, forensic accountancy company Second Sight was hired by the Post Office to look into allegations that errors in the Horizon system were causing unexplained shortfalls. In a webinar discussing the legal ramifications of the Horizon scandal, Cornerstone Barristers’ Marshall raised the question of what the government knew of the Post Office’s decision to sack Second Sight. “The new facts that have come to light as a result of examining a single complete legal file have identified a number of issues that indicate possible misconduct by a prosecutor on behalf of Post Office and a possible miscarriage of justice,” said Henderson. “That – and the refusal to give them access to the documents and data they needed, in breach of the Post Office’s agreements with them and with MPs – were clearly all part of the journey towards covering the whole scandal up and hoping the subpostmasters would go away.