by Fujitsu’s European boss told the Post Office he was concerned the company still sees itself as a “victim” four months on, a Horizon IT inquiry has heard.
Paul Patterson wrote to Post Office chief executive Nick Read in May to raise concerns about the “conduct” of the business’s investigations team during a City of London Police investigation into a particular branch.
Mr Patterson said he wrote his letter to “raise serious concerns… that the Post Office continues to enforce against postmasters”, but Mr Read responded by saying the company does not and will not prosecute sub-masters as a prosecuting body.
Mr Read responded to the letter, saying that (Fujitsu) had “fundamental misunderstandings about the culture and activities of the Post Office today”.
The Post Office boss also told Mr Patterson’s Horizon that data was not being used for “civil recovery from postmasters”.
In his letter dated May 17, Mr Patterson wrote: “I am writing to you directly to raise serious concerns which have come to my attention which indicate that the Post Office continues to enforce against postmasters and that she (Fujitsu) hopes to support. such acts.
“To be clear, (Fujitsu) will not support the Post Office acting against the postmasters.
“We will not support any enforcement action by the Post Office against postmasters, whether civil or criminal, for alleged omission, fraud or false accounting.”
Under the heading of “criminal investigations”, Mr Patterson said: “We are aware of a recent investigation by the City of London Police into a branch of the Post Office.
“(Fujitsu’s) approach is to cooperate with the police and any other third party exercising independent investigative, prosecutorial, regulatory or judicial powers.
“However, we are concerned about the conduct of the Post Office’s investigative team on this matter.
“The team maintains the Post Office’s ‘victim’ approach and demands (Fujitsu) provide a witness statement regarding the reliability of the Horizon data saying that the case will not be progressed without that statement.
“For the investigation team to act in this way appears to ignore the serious criticisms raised in the multiple judicial findings and indeed shows a lack of respect for the ongoing inquiry.”
Asked about his views on the letter when asked at the inquiry on Tuesday, Post Office non-executive director Saf Ismail said: “I think Fujitsu is right in what they are saying.
“I am disappointed that this was not discussed at the table.”
In his reply dated May 30, Mr Read said: “In terms of enforcement, Post Office requests only relate to cases where our teams are supporting criminal investigations or prosecutions pursued by independent third parties, such as the police or Crown Prosecution Service.”
He said the independent investigations could be initiated by a third party, postmasters who suspect criminal activity by staff, or the Post Office.
Mr Read continued: “In response to the specific situation you raised, potential criminal activity was identified in the branch and therefore the Post Office reported the matter to the police.
“We assisted the police investigation, including providing supporting data from the Horizon system.”
Mr Ismail told the inquiry Mr Read’s response was “disappointing”.
He said: “It’s disappointing that this letter went out the way it did.
“I think what this letter clearly shows is the lack of control and oversight within this organization, where the Chief Executive (CEO) has a certain point to understand.
“So we’re not ‘prosecuting’, but you have investigators investigating, and they’re basically doing what we’ve already seen.”
In his original letter, Mr Patterson discussed the matter of “postmasters looking for deficiencies”, saying: “It appears that the Post Office is continuing to probe postmasters for deficiencies in their accounts using Horizon data .
“We would have expected the Post Office to change its behavior in light of the criticism and is appropriately circumspect in relation to any enforcement action.
“It should not rely on Horizon data as a basis for enforcing such a deficiency.”
Mr Read said the Post Office stopped Mr Patterson’s civil recovery in 2018 so Horizon data “is not currently being used for civil recoveries from postmasters”.
More than 900 submasters were wrongfully prosecuted and found criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015, as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system revealed their branches were missing money – and many are still waiting for compensation.
The inquiry continues.
