CONFIDENTIAL
To Angela Van Den Bogerd, Head of Network Services Cc Mike Young, Chief
Operating Officer
Lesley Sewell, Head of IT Kevin Gilliland, Network & Sales
Director
Mike Granville, Head of Regulatory Relations Susan Crichton, Legal &
Compliance Director
Dave Pardoe, Senior Security Manager Chris Day, Chief Financial Officer
Rebekah Mantle, Principal Lawyer Sue Huggins, General Manager
Network
Hugh Flemington, Head of Legal John Scott, Head of Security
David Simpson, Press Office
From Rod Ismay, Head of Product & Branch Accounting 12 October 2011
JFSA and Shoosmiths / Access Legal — Response to Challenges
Regarding Horizon System
Proposed Steering Group and Purpose
Purpose
To define and manage a co-ordinated response plan which defends existing
challenges and deters future challenges, in the most pragmatic and efficient
manner.
Background
Throughout the last 10 years, the Horizon accounting system has been
subject to a number of unfounded criticisms in the national press. It has also
faced questions in the Houses of Parliament and allegations in court by
former subpostmasters and their legal defence teams. Post Office has
consistently won its prosecutions, and presiding judges have made
statements which had been expected to deter further baseless allegations,
however, the challenges continue to be made.
The situations have arisen in a minority of cases where POL has dismissed a
subpostmaster for financial irregularities and the subpostmaster has claimed
that it was the accounting records that were wrong due to IT issues, rather
than that money had been stolen.
Current Situation
Shoosmiths (Access Legal) are acting for several former subpostmasters.
These individuals come together in the JFSA (Justice For Subpostmasters.
Alliance). POL has now received commonly worded “Letters Before Action”
from Shoosmiths on behalf of 4 former subpostmasters. These are
precursors to claims for damages against POL. They request significant
materials to be disclosed.
POL had around 20 cases which it wished to take to court, where the defence
blamed Horizon. POL is confident that Horizon is not at fault, however, some
of the predicted legal costs outweighed the debts being pursued. POL could
not economically justify individual cases but to abandon such cases risked
giving unwarranted credence to the jfsa’s allegations.
The counter claims have now brought these to a head. POL now has to
defend onerous requests from Shoosmiths and consider its response to all
the cases above.
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CONFIDENTIAL
Live Actions and Content For First Steering Group
1.
APRON
>
Legal advice on POL’s options for pragmatic response to the LBA’s
Rebekah
Allocation of Project Manager Lesley
Funding for Project Manager Rod
Clarity on data gathering underway (Security, P&BA, Network, IT) All
Reactive statement stance should Private Eye type coverage continue
David
Learning from past cases including Ferndown Angela, Dave
Key Risks To Note
Media — the challenges are gathering momentum and interest
Resource and dependencies — onerous requests and dependencies on
key individuals
Capacity — impractical to support multiple legal actions in parallel
Focus — resource distraction from strategic programme
Literal response — risk of current fact gathering continuing at cost when
not needed
Sustainability - risk of “but what if’ by future defendants, even when these
cases are won
Cost — expensive court cases and low likelihood of debt recovery, but POL
must defend itself
Perception — loss of confidence by potential new network partners and
clients
Records — missing files which could undermine our ability to proceed