Paula Vennells’ legal team has told the Horizon IT inquiry to treat the evidence of some witnesses “cautiously”, arguing a desire for “self-preservation” meant they were trying to scapegoat the former Post Office chief executive for the scandal.
Samantha Leek KC, delivering the closing statement on behalf of Vennells to the public inquiry on Tuesday, said that as Vennells had become a high-profile figure in the scandal others had tried to “point the finger at her”.
“When witnesses have given recent evidence of matters relevant to Ms Vennells without it being supported by contemporaneous documents, this evidence should be approached cautiously,” she told the hearing.
“It is inevitable, having regard to the very human desire for self-preservation, that witnesses will now seek to distance themselves from Ms Vennells.”
The inquiry has heard evidence into one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history, in which more than 900 post office operators were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting between 1999 and 2015, after faulty Horizon software built by Fujitsu made it appear as if money was missing from branches.
Lawyers for Vennells, writing on her behalf in closing submissions to the inquiry, said no evidence had emerged to show she “acted in bad faith”.
Vennells has previously publicly named five executives who she claimed were to blame for the scandal, but her lawyers said she had “no desire to point the finger at others”.
Kate Gallafent KC, giving the Post Office’s closing statement on Tuesday, said there was “deep regret” on the reliance on Fujitsu, which built and manages the Horizon system, adding that the organisation was the “subordinate” partner in the technical and contractual relationship.
Fujitsu’s legal representative, Richard Whittam KC, hit back at the Post Office, accusing it of using its closing submission to try to “obfuscate its proper share of responsibility by seeking wrongly to deflect blame on Fujitsu and other third parties”.
“The Post Office has been aware for at least 25 years of the potential for – and existence of – bugs, errors and defects,” he said.
“Fujitsu has identified at least 70 individuals within Post Office and Royal Mail in relation to whom the inquiry has received unequivocal knowledge of bugs, errors and defects. This includes members of boards, senior executives, in-house lawyers, as well as individuals working in Post Office’s security and investigations teams.
“The inquiry is entitled to infer from the breadth and depth of awareness of bugs, errors and defects it is likely that key institutional decision makers did in fact have such knowledge.”
The government said on Tuesday that more former post office branch owners would be eligible for compensation, after an independent report found that IT accounting software developed by the Post Office that was used between 1992 and 1999 could also have been faulty.
The Post Office pursued prosecutions on theft and false accounting charges, or post office operators were forced to make up shortfalls with their own money, according to the report on the Capture accounting software.
The publication of the findings of the public inquiry are expected to be published next year.
