Post Office investigators were offered monetary bonuses for successful prosecutions and confiscation of money from sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses impacted by the faulty Horizon software, the inquiry was told.
Evidence from Sir Wyn Williams’ inquiry into the scandal shows there was an incentive to those making cases against innocent employees.
The faulty Horizon software, developed by Japanese multinational Fujitsu, made it look like money was being removed from the Post Office’s books. However, this was not the case and the government now intends to introduce legislation to overturn all convictions based on Horizon.
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Speaking to the inquiry last month, two Post Office investigators at the time talked through the bonus scheme.
Guy Thomas, who was at the company between 2000 and 2012, said: “There were bonus objectives. I don’t know if they were individual, team based, but there was some kind of bonus worthy, dependent, as far as I can recall, on percentage amounts recovered for the business, something along those lines.”
Evidence shown to the inquiry revealed that obtaining 40% of the “missing” money would grant the team a bonus.
An email Mr Thomas sent in 2021 when he was finding out about the depth of the issues with Horizon said bonuses were also based on prosecution numbers.
Another investigator, David Posnett, said the recovery of money would impact the PDR score of employees and therefore their bonuses.
Asked if the incentives affected how he acted as an investigator, Mr Thomas said: “I’d probably be lying if I said no because I probably – you know, it was part of the business, the culture of the business of recoveries or even under the terms of a postmaster’s contract with the contracts manager.
“It was, rightly or wrongly, within the contact that they were responsible for making good losses.”
Responding to the revelation, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho told Sky News: “I think it’s really important that the independent inquiry looks at everything and everyone that is at fault, so that we can make sure that there is redress at the end of it.”
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The Horizon scandal has come under renewed scrutiny following the airing of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The shift in public sentiment lead to the government announcing yesterday that they would be introducing new legilsation to exonerate all those convicted as soon as possible.