The British government is examining how to clear and compensate hundreds of post office counter managers punished for accounting errors resulting from computer glitches - "We're dealing with it and we want to put it right. The money has been put aside. What we're looking at now is how we can speed up the process," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on Monday during a visit to Accrington in the north of England . The Prime Minister confirmed that the Minister for Justice, Alex Chalk, and the Secretary of State for the Economy, Kevin Hollinrake, will meet this afternoon to discuss a strategy.
Some politicians have suggested that all wrongly convicted people should be cleared collectively through legislation to unlock compensation. More than 700 branch managers were accused of fraud, theft or falsification of accounts by the British Post Office between 1999 and 2015 when, in reality, it was a computer glitch. It was later discovered that the discrepancies in the accounts were caused by the computer system installed by the Japanese company Fujitsu, whose problems the Post Office sought to omit. For years, the state-owned company claimed that the Horizon software was reliable and forced the branch managers to reimburse the accounting deficits.
London's Metropolitan Police revealed on Friday that it was investigating whether the company had committed fraud by keeping the money obtained as a result of these accusations and wrongful convictions. Fujitsu officials are also being investigated for false testimony and obstruction of justice, but in fact no arrests have been made in four years.
In December 2019, a High Court judge ruled that the computer system contained a number of "flaws, errors and defects" and that there was a "significant risk" of causing deficits in the accounts of postal agencies. Since then, 93 convictions have been overturned, but only 30 of these people have received full and final compensation and no one from the Post Office or other companies involved has been arrested or criminally charged. Three different financial compensation schemes have been set up over the years, resulting in the payment of more than 150 million pounds (174 million euros).
A public inquiry launched in 2020 is due to be completed this year, and should reveal details of what is considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the UK.
The original article via Observador can be read here.
