On the second day of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, Nick Read—who quit last month—was testifying, focusing on the delays in victims’ financial recompense.
Interrogating Mr. Read on whether the government “is using the Post Office as a shield or a fire curtain” was Edward Henry KC, speaking on behalf of injured sub-postmasters involved in the Horizon crisis.
“Yeah, that could be a description,” he answered.
Mr. Henry went on: “The government is somewhat protected since you [the Post Office] are in charge of two of the three programs. Does it allow for plausible deniability when one step is removed?”
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office employed defective Horizon computer software, which resulted in the false conviction of hundreds of subpostmasters.
Rejecting the idea that the business has been told “to minimise or supress compensation claims whilst avoiding public scrutiny” was the departing Post Office CEO.
Mr. Read did acknowledge that the compensation procedure has been “unduly bureaucratic,” though, and he expressed “deep regret” for the Post Office’s failure to provide “fair and prompt redress.”
