POL00119518
POL00119518
@ Post Office Limited
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London
EC2Y 9AQ
Mr P Kalia
9" September 2015
Dear Mr Kalia,
Post Office Complaint and Mediation Scheme
Thank you for your letter of 21 August 2015 to Paula Vennells, which has been passed to me for
reply.
The Panorama programme you refer to in your letter included a number of inaccurate
statements, drawn selectively from limited information, to create a misleading and damaging
impression of how and why Post Office undertook prosecutions.
Our statement, wholly rejecting the allegations in the programme, Is available on our website at:
http://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/bbe-panorama-our-response_and is also enclosed with this
letter for your convenience.
All of the allegations that were presented in the programme have been exhaustively investigated
and tested by the Post Office and various specialists over the past three years or more. The
investigations have not identified any transaction caused by a technical fault with Horizon which
resulted in a postmaster wrongly being held responsible for a loss of money.
There is also no evidence of transactions recorded by branches being altered through ‘remote
access’ to the system. Horizon does not have functionality that allows Post Office or Fujitsu to
edit or delete the transactions recorded by branches.
It has however always been possible for Post Office to correct errors in and/or update a branch's
accounts by way of a transaction correction, balancing transaction, or transaction
acknowledgement. All of these processes for correcting / updating a branch's accounts have
similar features in that they involve inputting a new transaction into the branch's records (not
editing or removing any previous transactions) and all are shown transparently in the branch
transaction records available to Subpostmasters and in the audit store.
The Post Office takes extremely seriously any allegation that there may have been a miscarriage
of justice. We have seen no evidence to support this allegation. The Post Office has a continuing
duty after a prosecution has concluded to disclose any information that subsequently comes to
light which might undermine its prosecution or support the case of the defendant. Post Office
continues to act in compliance with that duty.
Post Office Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered No. 2154540. .
Registered Office Finsbury Dials, 20 Finsbury Street, London. EC2Y 9AQ PostOffice.co.uk
Post Office and the Post Office logo are registered trade marks of Post Office Limited
POL00119518
POL00119518
If you believe that you have been subject to a miscarriage of justice, you should take independent
legal advice. The solicitor who acted for you on the prosecution, or the Citizens Advice Bureau
may be able to help you.
Yours sincerely,
Angela Van Den Bogerd
Head of Partnerships
Post Office Limited