Paula Vennells was the ex-CEO of the Post Office and she knew about remote access for two years before she denied it to Parliament, according to tapes.
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Paula Vennells was the former Post Office The chief executive may have heard about a “covert operation team” that could Horizon System Remote Access She appeared in the media two years before she adjusted branches’ accounts. This is a great way to get your message across..
In newly-surfaced allegations, Ms Vennells received a briefing from the Post Office’s General Counsel that a unit was in BracknellFujitsu Headquarters could be accessed Subpostmaster’s accounts can be accessed remotely.
Tapes obtained Channel 4 Susan Crichton, chief lawyer of the Post Office, confirms this twice. Ms Vennells You can learn more about it here The allegations are known.
In the audio recording – dating from 2013 – Ms Crichton can be heard saying:
“[Paula] She is aware of the allegation. “She knows we’re working on it.”
She added: “She has everything.” Paula has been briefed in this way: “As soon as I get evidence that there’s a problem, I let her know about it immediately”.
After public dissatisfaction over her role in Horizon scandal, former Post Office boss Paula Vennells forfeited her CBE.
(PA)
The recording dates back to two years before the Post Office Stopping prosecutions against their own sub-postmastersTwo years earlier, in 2015, the former chief executive informed MPs that it was impossible to access subpostmasters accounts remotely.
In written evidence submitted to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee Inquiry, Post Office said that there is no functionality within Horizon to allow a branch, Post Office, Fujitsu or to remove transaction data, once it has already been recorded in an account.
More than 700 branch managers in the UK Post Office prosecutions between 1999 and 2015. Horizon accounting software caused a false impression that money was missing in their shops.
The Post Office scandal has been centered on evidence of possible remote access by Fujitsu employees to the Horizon system.
The newly discovered tapes are from a call in which several Post Office executives and investigators from the forensic accounting firm Second Sight were present.
Michael Rudkin was also mentioned on the call. He is a former Post Office Union official who was pivotal in the discovery Fujitsu’s secret operations unit.
In the tape Ron Warmington, a representative from Second Sight, warns that Ms Vennells could be questioned by Lord Arbuthnot – who campaigned on behalf of sub-postmasters – on the Bracknell operation.
“If James says something like, ‘And where are you on this assertion about the Bracknell covert operations team, as it was referred to by Rudkin?Warmington asks.
“Well, look at it. That’s a very specific case. We’ll return to it after we finish the investigation,” says Ms Crichton.
“Yeah, well, as long as she doesn’t come back and say, ‘Look, so what’s this Bracknell issue, what is he talking about?’; ‘Oh, we’ve known about that for two months’,” Mr Warmington probes.
She knows about the allegation. She knows that we are working to resolve it,” Ms Crichton replies.
Subpostmasters in the Post Office were wrongly accused of theft after the Horizon accounting system appeared to show that money was missing from their branches (Yui Mok/PA).
(PA Wire)
The tapes reveal that the lawyers wanted to prevent MPs from being interested in the unfolding scandal.
In the audio, a lawyer for the Post Office is heard saying: “The necessity to somehow have a planned to close this process. I mean, to the point of preventing MPs from sending in cases now. How can we shut down the MP side? What would work best for MPs. What can we offer to MPs? “How quickly can you do that?”
She continues: “So, and I am thinking out loud, is it possible to shut down these MP cases and make James, and his friends, happy, so that they will just go away, basically?”
Former union employee Mr Rudkin told Channel 4 that the tapes went some way to confirming what he had always known: “The minute I first heard it, it was one of elation saying ‘Rudkin you were right!’. The second one is one of sadness thinking ‘Why did my wife and kids have to be put through this”
He continued: “It is not just us who are affected.” It’s all of the family. The way that you are shunned within the local community – whispers, ‘No smoke without fire’. Susan’s and my reputation, for that matter were dragged into the mire.
“I don’t know why it takes the Metropolitan Police so long to solve this problem.” “Somebody has to be made to answer”.
Susan Crichton & Paula Vennells didn’t respond to Channel 4 News comments.
A spokesperson from the Post Office stated: “We remain focused on getting the truth about what happened and supporting a statutory Public Inquiry that is chaired a judge, who has the power to question witness under oath. It is therefore best positioned to help achieve this.”
Fujitsu was contacted to get a comment.
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