Former Post Office chair, Tim Parker, has testified in the Horizon IT scandal inquiry that he was advised by in-house lawyers not to share a report he had commissioned on the accounting system. Parker, who held the role for nearly seven years from October 2015, expressed regret for following this advice, as the findings of the review by Jonathan Swift in 2016 were legally privileged.
During his testimony, Parker stated that he could not recall whether the advice came orally or in writing from the Post Office’s general counsel, Jane MacLeod. However, Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC pointed out that MacLeod had stated in her own witness statement that she had given a briefing to the board on the findings and that the report was available to members upon request.
The inquiry also heard that none of the conclusions from the Swift review were shared with the Post Office board or the government, and were not made available to the lawyers representing the hundreds of sub-postmasters who had been convicted of theft and fraud related to their use of Horizon since 1999. While the convictions have since been overturned, there is still frustration among the victims over the slow process of receiving compensation despite government intervention.
Under questioning from Mr Beer, Parker denied any claims that he was happy to bury the Swift review. He stated, “What possible motive would I have had at the time from hiding this report from my fellow board members, other than receiving advice that I shouldn’t share it with my fellow board members? Bear in mind I had no axe to grind on this, I had no vested interest in trying to protect the Post Office… It was simply the advice I received and I followed it.”
Parker also acknowledged that, with hindsight, the motive behind the advice may not have been in the best interests of the sub-postmasters. He further stated that he could not recall any briefing from MacLeod and agreed with Mr Beer that there was no record of it in board meeting minutes.
During his testimony, Parker also revealed that he had contemplated making a full apology to the victims of the miscarriages of justice. He explained, “Today I was toying with making an opening statement. Stand up, you say, ‘I’m deeply, deeply sorry’ as many people have done, and there ensued a discussion with people. Should I do this? Because I would like to say sorry. And the response I got was that ‘well you could do this but actually people have kind of got a bit tired of that and it all rings a bit hollow and you’re probably just going to annoy people more than give them any sense of your real desire to say sorry’.”
The Horizon IT scandal inquiry is set to resume on Tuesday next week.
