Paula Vennels' lawyers have told the Horizon IT inquiry to treat the evidence of some witnesses with “care”, saying a desire for “self-preservation” scapegoated the former Post Office chief executive in the scandal. He argued that it meant that he was trying to.
Giving her closing statement on behalf of Ms Vennells at Tuesday's public inquiry, Samantha Leake KC said that as Ms Vennells became a high-profile figure in the scandal, others tried to “blame” her. .
“If a witness presents recent evidence relating to Mr. Vennels without contemporaneous documentary support, this evidence should be treated with caution,” he told the hearing.
“Given the very human desire for self-preservation, it is inevitable that witnesses will seek to distance themselves from Mr. Vennels.”
The investigation found that more than 900 postal workers were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting between 1999 and 2015, the largest in British history, due to flawed Horizon software developed by Fujitsu. Evidence of one of the miscarriages of justice has come to light. If the branch runs out of money.
Ms Vennels' lawyer wrote a closing investigative submission on her behalf, saying no evidence had emerged to show she “acted with malice.”
Vennels has previously named five executives she said were responsible for the scandal, but her lawyers said she was “not looking to point fingers.”
Kate Garafent KC released the Post Office's final statement on Tuesday, expressing “deep regret” over its reliance on Fujitsu to build and manage the Horizon system, and saying that Fujitsu had no technical and contractual obligations. It added that he was a “subordinate” partner in the relationship. .
Richard Whittam KC, Fujitsu's legal representative, hit back at the Post Office, saying the Post Office was using the final submission to “falsely seek to avoid liability to Fujitsu and other third parties, thereby They accused the government of attempting to “obfuscate the division of responsibility.”
“The Postal Service has recognized the possibility and existence of bugs, errors and defects for at least 25 years,” he said.
“Fujitsu has identified at least 70 individuals within the Post Office and Royal Mail who had specific knowledge of bugs, errors and defects as a result of our inquiries, including board members, senior executives, In addition to in-house attorneys, this includes individuals who work in the Post Office's security and investigation teams.
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“This investigation is entitled to infer from the breadth and depth of knowledge about the bugs, errors, and flaws that it is likely that key organizational decision makers did in fact have such knowledge.”
The government announced on Tuesday that more former post offices will be released after an independent report found that IT accounting software developed by the post office used between 1992 and 1999 may also have been flawed. The branch manager announced that he would be eligible for compensation.
The report on the Capture accounting software said the post office pursued prosecution on charges of theft and false accounting, or post office operators were forced to cover shortfalls with their own funds.
The results of the public inquiry are expected to be published next year.
