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23 October 2012
Albert Owen MP
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
Thank you for your letter of 5 October, and I am sorry it has taken me a while to respond
This is with regard to your constituent, Mr Hugh Noel Thomas, ot
about the Horizon system and the issue to do with SubPostmasters.
T recently hosted a meeting between Mr Alan Bates, who chairs the Justice for
Subpostmasters Alliance, and the Chief Executive of the Post Office, Paula Vennells, and her
chief of staff. It appears that there has been some disconnect between the two parties as to
the exact terms of investigations that will be brought to the forensic accountants directly
from the JSFA. This has to do with a blanket guarantee of immunity, which the Post Office
as a statutory body cannot offer, and the currency of cases that ought to be investigated.
The result of this meeting is that the two parties are going to talk directly and come to an
agreement, rather than having to deal with each other via my office.
T ought to let you know that I continue to pass on details — at the request of their
constituency MP — of individuals who are happy for me to do so, to the forensic
accountants. There are just over a dozen who have done so thus far in the full knowledge
that their details will be passed first of all to the Post Office who are collating relevant data,
who then pass details and data on to the accountants. No offer of immunity has been made
to these people, and so if your constituent is concerned about this, he ought to stay in
touch with the JSFA and await their negotiations with the Post Office before deciding
whether or not to proceed. The JSFA will be best placed to advise him about this.
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Finally, I should like to add that there is nothing sinister about the investigations that are
underway. My constituent, clearly those others who have been content for their details to be
made known, the Post Office, and I are all extremely keen for this entire matter to be
resolved. What I expect is that, beyond the results of individual investigations, the
accountants will be able to extrapolate some general points from the investigations
undertaken, which will point the way for further work to be done. I am awaiting the results
with real interest.
Do come back to me if you need more detail as I am happy to help.