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From: Jane MacLeod
Sent: Mon 16/05/2016 8:59:34 PM (UTC)
To: Tim Parker[” q
Subject: RE: Post Office - Chairman's review CONFIDENTIAL AND LEGALLY PRIVILEGED
Attachment: Summary J - Status Report J Swift recommendations 16-5-2016.docx
Tim
I understand the frustration that you (and others) feel as to how long these steps are taking to complete.
Unfortunately these are not straightforward issues and need to be carefully scoped to ensure that, in light of all the
developments, the output is worth having.
Attached are Jonathan’s original recommendations where he believed that further work should be undertaken,
together with a summary of the current status of that work and expected timeframe for completion. As you will see
all of these are underway, however, particularly in the case of recommendation 2, there are a significant number of
documents to be reviewed (estimated as more than 3000 in one case), and this, combined with issues around Brian’s
availability, mean this second phase has not progressed as expeditiously as we had hoped.
In light of the fact that proceedings have now been filed in Court, we have asked Jonathan to provide advice to you in
your capacity as Chairman of Post Office, as to the extent to which completing this work, or indeed undertaking
further work is appropriate in all the circumstances..
We expect that this advice will be available shortly, and I will keep you informed as to the outcome.
Kind regards,
Jane
Jane MacLeod
General Counsel
Ground Floor
20 Finsbury Street
LONDON
EC2Y 9AQ .
Mobile number{™
From: Tim Parker
Sent: 14 May 2016 10:16
To: Jane MacLeod
Subject: Re: Post Office - Chairman's review
Thank you Jane. I think there will soon be frustration at the time this is taking (indeed I am also beginning to
get somewhat frustrated) So what is now the projected timetable for completion on the components of the
action list?
Best
Tim
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Tim Parker
Chairman
National Trust
20 Grosvenor
c.h-tim.parkert,
V1W 0DH
Chairman
Post Office Limited
Finsbury Djals..20. Einshiuwv. Street. London, EC2Y 9AQ
tim.parker@ _ {o)
Chairman
Samsonite International SA
Westerring 17, B-9700 Oudenaarde, Belgium
On Fri, May 13, 2016 at 10:13 AM -0700, "Jane MacLeod" ¢.. > wrote:
Dear Tim
Here is my regular fortnightly update on the progress of your review and the litigation.
Review
e Helpline - In relation to the allegation that our Helpline may have provided incorrect advice to
subpostmasters which resulted in a loss to the accounts, Bond Dickinson (the external firm conducting the
work) has now completed its investigations. Although some investigations were limited because certain
records are no longer available and there were inaccuracies in the information provided by complainants,
their draft report reveals that there is no evidence to support the allegations that have been made. We are
currently reviewing the report ahead of sharing it with Jonathan Swift to seek his view as to whether it
sufficiently discharges his recommendation in this area, but we are confident that it should.
e Horizon System — We have had further meetings with Deloitte in relation to the extent of the work necessary
to discharge Jonathan’s 3 recommendations on the testing of Horizon, and they have begun work on the
substantive phase of that work. It is, by its nature, an iterative process in that, dependent on early results,
further decisions then need to be made on whether or not to explore further. To assist us in this process, I
have asked the new Chief Information Officer, Rob Houghton, to review the process undertaken by Deloitte,
to sense-check these further decisions. Our next meeting with Deloitte takes place on 20 May.
e Suspense Accounts — You will recall that Deloitte are also conducting the work, into the existence and nature
of the relationship between POL’s suspense accounts and specific branch accounts over the relevant period.
This a materially different exercise to the IT testing, and I understand that most of the relevant accounting
processes were/are based paper records and manual reconciliations. We will shortly be having a specific
meeting with Deloitte to discuss their progress on this and will be keeping Al Cameron briefed on those
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discussions.
e Prosecution Practice — Jonathan Swift has confirmed that Brian Altman QC can limit his initial review to those
19 cases presenting the specific features of double charges in question, and decide on the basis of those
findings whether to extend the exercise. That work is ongoing.
Litigation
As I indicated in my last update, we are in the process of preparing a short paper for the May Board which will include,
at a high level, a summary of the legal claim, the likely timescales, and our initial approach for its management. I
have briefed the GE today on these matters.
As ever, should you have any questions, do give mea call.
Kind regards,
Jane
Jane MacLeod
General Counsel
Ground Floor
20 Finsbury Street
LONDON
EC2Y 9AQ
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