POL00041258
POL00041258
Message
From:
Sent:
To: Paula Vennells
cc: Thomas § Rodric I; Parsons,
Andrew I, Tom Wechs! ~___1; Melanie Corfield
; Mark R Davies” ; Patrick Bourke
Subject: Re: Postmaster Litigation - CONFIDENTIAL AND SUBJECT TO LEGAL PRIVILEGE
Paula
We haven't previously addressed super-users and the phrasing of some previous statements as to who can access and
edit branch data is quite narrow. We are collating previous statements made, as well as referencing what we have been
provided by Fujitsu historically, so that's we can assess the extent of the communications gap. However it is clear that
this is an area where we could face adverse media commentary.
Jane MacLeod
General Counsel
The Post Office
Sent from my iPad
On 25 Jul 2016, at 07:19, Paula Vennells ¢ wrote:
Thanks Jane. This is clear - my inly query is we FJ super-users. What did we say previously?
Sent from my iPhone
On 24 Jul 2016, at 20:44, Jane MacLeod > wrote:
Paula
As you will recall, Post Office has committed to responding to the Letter of Claim
received from Freeths, by this Friday (29 July). We have a briefing set up with you on
Tuesday morning to take you through the approach to that letter, and I also propose to
raise this at the GE on Tuesday, and issue an update to the Board on Friday as we
respond to the Freeths’ letter. The main factor to be aware of is the possibility of
further (adverse) publicity following our reply, as we expect that our reply will be
circulated among the group of postmasters in whose name the litigation is brought.
None of the underlying arguments set out in the Freeths claim are new. However as a
result of the work undertaken by Deloitte in relation to Horizon, we will be flagging that
within Fujitsu there are a limited number of individuals who have super-user rights
which can only be used in very limited and controlled circumstances. We do not believe
that this causes us any concerns from a legal perspective, however it is a different
positioning to the public statements that we have previously made, and therefore we
should be prepared for adverse comments from the usual commentators.
Given the Board tomorrow, you may wish to advise them that we will be responding to
the Freeths claim towards the end of the week (which we are still finalising), and that
we will issue a briefing to the Board at that point. Nevertheless, and as flagged in my
POL-0037740
POL00041258
POL00041258
briefing to them in May, there is a risk of adverse publicity arising from the responses
contained in that letter. Our position (as discussed with Comms) is that we do not
propose to comment publicly and any response (if required) will be limited to a
statement along the lines of “We are aware of a claim and will be defending our position
through the legal processes”.
’'m around in the morning if you have any questions.
Jane
<image001.png> Jane MacLeod
General Counsel
Ground Floor
20 Finsbury Street
EC2Y 9AQ
Mobile number:
2A RR fA RR I A RR OR RR a A 28 I OO RR A a a BR
This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for the addressee only. If you are not the named
recipient, you must not use, disclose, reproduce, copy or distribute the contents of this communication. If you
have received this in error, please contact the sender by reply email and then delete this email from your system.
Any views or opinions expressed within this email are solely those of the sender, unless otherwise specifically
stated.
POST OFFICE LIMITED is registered in England and Wales no 2154540. Registered Office: Finsbury Dials,
20 Finsbury Street, London EC2Y 9AQ.
24 242K 2K Rf fF 42k 2 A F128 2 ff 02828 28 2 4 3128 29 2 a 8 of fa BR
POL-0037740