NEWS STORY : Former Post Office Boss David Smith Admits Saying Imprisonment of Seema Misra was “Brilliant News”
STORY
David Smith, the former Managing Director of the Post Office, has apologised for saying that the imprisonment of Seema Mistra, an innocent victim of the Project Horizon scandal, was “brilliant news”. Smith, answering questions at the Horizon IT inquiry made an allegation that Paula Vennells told him that the IT system was “tamper proof”. Smith also accepted responsibility for not reflecting on the growing scandal “in the way that I have should have done”. Smith almost admitting under questioning that he was not aware of important information reaching him and he couldn’t explain why that was.
The Post Office Horizon scandal is widely considered one of the UK’s largest miscarriages of justice. Horizon, an accounting system installed in Post Offices branches starting in 1999, displayed significant errors which led to shortfalls in accounts, for which subpostmasters were held personally liable. The Post Office aggressively pursued these subpostmasters, resulting in prosecutions, bankruptcy, imprisonment, and even suicides. Despite subpostmasters’ claims that the system was flawed, the Post Office maintained Horizon was robust. It took years of legal battles before the courts determined Horizon was riddled with bugs with the scandal leading to the establishment of the independent Horizon Inquiry.
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