Disgraced former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has been urged to tell the truth about her role in the Horizon IT scandal after she bowed to intense public pressure and returned her CBE.
The former chief executive said she was “truly sorry” for the devastation caused to staff who were falsely accused of fraud, amid outrage that saw 1.2 million people demand in an online petition that she hand back her honour.
Campaigners and MPs welcomed her decision to give up the award – but said Ms Vennells still had “questions to answer” about her role in the scandal at the public inquiry, which resumes this week.
Justice secretary Alex Chalk revealed that Rishi Sunak was actively considering an emergency bill to quash all 800 Horizon scandal convictions at once.
No 10 said the judiciary had not challenged the government’s proposal to overturn the convictions, after crunch meetings were held on Tuesday – suggesting that a legislative plan would be announced in the coming days.
It comes as:
- Ministers were urged to explain why Ms Vennells was given a Cabinet Office job after the scandal broke
- No 10 said Fujitsu – the IT giant at the centre of the scandal – will be “held accountable”
- Some 100 new potential victims were reported to have got in touch with lawyers following the broadcast of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office
- Around 1,000 people affected by the Horizon scandal face a looming tax deadline
In a statement on Tuesday, Ms Vennells said she was “truly sorry for the devastation caused” to staff and their families “whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted”.
She said she had “listened” to calls from campaigners for the honour to be revoked after the ITV drama thrust the scandal into the spotlight, adding that her CBE would be returned with immediate effect.
Ms Vennells said: “I continue to support and focus on cooperating with the Inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.”
Convicted subpostmasters said they were “glad” the petition had worked. Former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton said it was a “shame it took just a million people to cripple her conscience”.
Ms Hamilton, who was wrongfully convicted in 2008 of stealing thousands of pounds from the village shop she ran in Hampshire, said: “It shows the people have spoken – about everything, really.”
Varchas Patel, whose father Vipin was wrongfully convicted of fraud in 2011, added: “Now the big question for me is who gave her that CBE?”
No 10 responded to Ms Vennells’ move, saying: “We think that is obviously the right decision.” Mr Sunak had said on Monday that he would “strongly support” any decision by the official body that reviews honours to revoke her CBE.
Ms Vennells was chief executive of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019. The public inquiry – which reconvenes on Thursday – has already been told that she sent a company-wide “Horizon defence piece” as early as 2009, while a senior executive, to defend the IT system.
Ms Vennells and board members have also been accused of taking the 2015 decision to sack independent investigators Second Sight who had been looking into what went wrong with Horizon.
Labour MP Kevan Jones – who has campaigned on behalf of affected staff – told The Independent that Ms Vennells still had “questions to answer”, as he urged her to explain her role in the scandal.
Asked if Ms Vennells’ Post Office pension could be re-examined if she was found to have wronged the subpostmasters, Mr Jones said: “Let’s see what the inquiry brings out. The government needs to explain some things. Why was she given a post at the Cabinet Office?”
Senior Tory David Davis told The Independent that the question of bonus and pension payments for Ms Vennells and other executives may have to be looked at – but only after the inquiry and police probe had finished.
“I’m sure those questions will be asked,” said the former cabinet minister – arguing that it was important to set up “a proper process with a view to criminal convictions” for those behind the scandal.
CWU national officer Andy Furey said Ms Vennells giving her CBE back was a “token gesture compared to what real justice would look like”.
The union leader said it would “only be right” for her to return bonus money she received at the Post Office – believed to amount to around £2.2m – while relevant authorities must give “serious consideration” to bringing criminal proceedings against her.
Meanwhile, the justice secretary told MPs that the government was now giving “active consideration” to legislation to clear the 800 or subpostmasters, adding: “I expect to be able to make further announcements shortly.”
Mr Chalk also said he would only introduce legislation if it had “exhausted all alternatives before taking radical action”. But No 10 later said the judiciary did not raise “any significant challenges” over plans to quash convictions during a meeting with Mr Chalk.
Tory peer Lord Arbuthnot, who sits on the Horizon compensation advisory board, said he expects the government come up with an “exceptional” law to deal with the issue.
The campaigning peer said: “We need to deal with a mass miscarriage of justice in a mass way, a way deal that doesn’t force people to go cap in hand individually to the court.”
Mr Sunak’s ministers are also looking at changing the rules around private prosecutions by the Post Office and other companies, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said earlier.
MPs have also called for Fujitsu – the firm behind the faulty Horizon accounting software that made it look as if money was missing from shops – to pay for compensating wronged Post Office staff.
In 1999, Horizon, a defective Fujitsu IT system, began incorrectly reporting cash shortfalls at branches across the country. The accusations tore people’s lives apart, with many losing their jobs and homes. Several people took their own lives due to the stress.
No 10 said on Tuesday that Fujitsu will be “held accountable”, legally or financially, if the ongoing public inquiry finds it blundered in the Horizon scandal.
But the PM’s spokesman did not say the government would stop awarding contracts to the company if it was found to be at fault – saying only that companies’ conduct was “in general” would be considered as part of the procurement process.
MPs on the business select committee have asked Fujitsu bosses to answer questions in parliament on Tuesday next week – with Labour chair Liam Byrne saying it was “vital that Fujitsu confess how they got it so wrong”. The company has not responded.
It comes as lawyers acting for the former subpostmasters said more than 100 new potential victims of the miscarriage of justice have been in touch since the airing of ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office. Only 93 of somewhere between 700 to 900 convictions have so far been overturned so far.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey – accused of “fobbing off” victims of the scandal while he was postal minister between 2010 and 2012 – lashed out at “the people in the Post Office who were perpetrating this conspiracy of lies”.
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the Conservatives “still need to explain” why Ms Vennells got a CBE and was able to keep a job as a director in the Cabinet Office after her involvement in the scandal was exposed.
It also emerged that around 1,000 people who have been affected by the Post Office and Horizon scandal face a looming tax deadline. But HMRC said it wants to reassure any postmasters who are struggling to meet the 31 January deadline due to late top-up payments that any penalties or associated interest would be cancelled.