Post Office invested at the very least ₤ 130m of taxpayers’ cash safeguarding itself in Horizon questions

Post Office execs have actually invested greater than ₤ 130m of taxpayers’ cash safeguarding the business at the long-running questions right into the wrongful prosecution of greater than 900 employees, numbers reveal.

The business’s yearly record exposes that the business’s lawful and running expenses from the beginning of the questions in September 2020 up until 31 March 2024 overall ₤ 132m, majority of which– ₤ 82m– was invested in the last fiscal year alone.

The questions right into the Horizon IT scandal just finished today, and these numbers do not consist of cash invested in lawful expenses because 31 March.

In his closing declaration to the questions today, the federal government’s legal representative Nick Chapman stated “weak and arrogant” Post Office execs that were “culpably dishonest” and had a society of “contempt” in the direction of branch drivers were largely in charge of the rumor, and he stated the business had actually played a “despicable” duty in the biggest losing the unborn baby of justice in British background.

While he distinguished the Post Office, he likewise criticized preachers, the software application’s programmer Fujitsu, the federation standing for blog post workplace drivers, and firms such as UKGI, which handles the taxpayer’s risk in the Post Office, stating they had all “contributed to this scandal”.

The Post Office chair, Nigel Railton, in his declaration repeated his “profound apologies” to the targets. “The inquiry’s examinations of the past have laid bare severe failings that caused terrible harm to the lives of postmasters,” he stated. “We face up to these and, and we will learn the lessons so that we can build a Post Office fit for the future, fundamentally changed and with postmasters at its heart.”

The Post Office stated it had actually made arrangements of ₤ 816m for “exceptional expenses” in the year to 31 March 2024, consisting of for its lawful and running expenses, in addition to cash to be invested in settlement and reversed sentences. Its pre-tax losses enhanced by ₤ 81m to ₤ 612m, while its financial debts have actually swollen to greater than the worth of its possessions.

The federal government stated on Tuesday that even more previous blog post workplace branch proprietors would certainly be qualified for settlement, after an independent record located IT audit software application created by the Post Office that was made use of in between 1992 and 1999 might likewise have actually been malfunctioning.

The Post Office went after prosecutions on burglary and incorrect audit fees, or blog post workplace drivers were compelled to compose shortages with their very own cash, according to the record on the Capture audit software application.

The magazine of the searchings for of the general public questions are anticipated to be released following year.