Post Office scandal: Former chairman tells MPs that current boss is under investigation

the former chairman of the post office came to give evidence of the attacks from KY Bok ringing in his ears serious concerns about his behavior made up anecdotes to a series of falsehoods a Cavalier approach to governance the business secretary had been responding to Henry st's allegations that her Department tried to slow down compensation payments for postmasters he said KY bok's words were a smear and compensation wasn't happening fast enough the Secretary of State senior civil servants and post office officials are asking us to believe that everything was going swimmingly all along when it down world wasn't km badok was visiting Abu Dhabi today last week she said she had to sack Henry ston because of serious concerns about his behavior as chair and that he was under investigation Mr Reed fell out with his HR Director Henry ston said there had been a much chunkier investigation into the chief executive of the post office Nick Reed within that was one paragraph there about comments that I allegedly made so this was an investigation not into me this was an investigation made into the chief executive Nick Reed well at the moment now we've got yourself as the former chairman who was the current chairman at the time being investigated we now got the CEO allegedly now under investigation as well that's blown my I was not expecting that answer okay so Okay so we've got wasn't that made plain to you this investig that's the first thing I've heard of Mr Reed's alleged and I will use that word alleged investigation but that hadn't been mentioned when the post office chief executive gave his evidence earlier we have a procedure in Parliament by which Witnesses take the oath which we do not use in ordinary circumstances the committee making it clear they had concerns about contradictory accounts coming out of the post office boardroom I swear by Mighty God that the evidence and Nick Reed contradicted Henry st's memory that he more than once suggested resigning have you ever tried to resign as chief executive of the post office no why do you say that well because we've got a redress scheme that's in the wrong place culture that's in the wrong place problems with the information given to this committee I'd like to know whether you are planning to stay in post to deliver the redress schemes that we have just heard are not performing in the way that they should I want to make sure that we get Justice for our postmasters and that is what I will say to do Post Office limited is stealing uh my livelihood my shop the hero of the ITV drama wasn't required to swear on the Bible for his evidence wasn't convinced by post office claims that the culture there had changed and compensation was speeding up is the redress getting faster and fairer well uh speaking personally of my claim I can say no it is no no after everything you've been through yeah nothing it's still as far as I know it's still sat there the the culture's always been post office hasn't changed it's been the same for donkey years it will not change and you cannot change it my personal view about post office is it's a dead duck and it has been for years and it's going to be a money pit for the taxpayer for years to come and you should sell it to someone like Amazon for a pound a business department Source said they knew about both internal investigations few others did what did you make alen that was interesting wasn't it one lawyer told MPS the post office was dragging its heels on disclosure full settlement for the sub postmasters would take up to two years Gary Gibbon reporting well Chris head was the youngest postmaster in the UK when he took over his local branch near Sunderland in 2006 but after being accused of stealing 80,000 pounds he lost everything and was forced to move abroad to start again he spent the last few years trying to help others sub postmasters fight for compensation and he joins me now Chris said thanks so much for coming in you were front row today what did you make of it all it was just extraordinary I mean you know just just when you think you can't be shocked anymore about what goes on you hear these new explosive Revelations by the the the sacked chairman of the post office I mean it was extraordinary you know one former chairman said to be under investigation himself dropping this bombshell allegation or claim that the current chair is being investigated does any of this matter to you and the other sub post Masters it it is just a bit of a distraction really you know I mean obviously this thing will play out on how however it ends up playing out but it it doesn't actually give what the post Masters have been promised which is full and fair compensation it just distracts from that exactly and the hearing today was about supposed to be about speeding up compensation I I know that he said he said doesn't get you very far but I wonder where it leaves you with that initial claim Henry ston made that he was told to slow down paying out of compensation where do you stand on that yeah I mean obviously we still don't know obviously which side is telling the truth if if any but I think what from postm side you know it Henry ston is more believable simply because um that's what post Masters are seeing know we're seeing people put in their claims but we're seeing you know it's taken we saw today Tim brenel it's taken him three years even to get to the point where he is right now it's everything is appears to be slow I mean what is actually behind the slowness we don't really know but it makes Henry st's allegations and in terms of waiting for compensation waiting for justice as you see it what has happened in your case uh my case we submitted the claim last year in September um under the group litigation order scheme and obviously it was backed up by um forensic accountant reports and tax records and we got an offer from the the government um on the 28th of December and it was for less than 15% of the claim value 15% of the claim value not 15% short of your claim no no yeah so what did you make of that given that the government government is talking and the post office are talking about giving people like you justice I mean well that that's the thing that's why I said we've got one hand ministers and the government uh saying both to to the media and to the House of Commons that you know we are going to pay these postmasters full and fair compensation and yet myself and Allen and others have a letter in the in our hands that basically says we have no intention of doing that because that's the level of the offer what you know why is it so far apart from what experts have said that she should be I mean it is difficult to get full and fair compensation for what you've been through give us a sense of the impact on your life I mean obviously I mean I started in the post of as a day day as you know the youngest postmaster and i' built up a successful business you know I mean the post of ass was growing year on year to then be uh suspended for six months under a criminal investigation and then terminated and then obviously lose that business that I built up um couldn't find employment afterwards moved abroad um for a while to try and find other employment and it's just you know it's had a massive you know anxiety of uh stress and everything and it's still ongoing because we haven't yet have a resolution I mean there's been a lot of talk throughout the inquiry that the select committee about a change of culture in the post office an acknowledgement of what people like you have been through yeah do you think that's that's honest do you think that's where they are I I think from what we've seen today and obviously in previous Revelations from the uh public inquiry I think it's very clear that the culture in the post office has not changed and you're seeing even from non-executive directors on the board who are for Masters they are they elves are saying that the toxic environment still exists in the post offers and I think it's proved that the post offers still employ a large number of these people who were involved in the investigations I mean that tells you all you need to know that the the culture can't change while them people are still there I mean very briefly do you think you and the others will get the Justice you're looking for I I I do believe we will get there it's just obviously a question of how long uh we we will take to get there and I think it will not be done until we can get the compensation schemes in the hands of an independent body outside the remit of both post office and the government Chris said thanks very much for talking to us thanks for com in

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 65,133

Keywords: Post Office, Post Office scandal, Horizon, Horizon scandal, Alan Bates, Henry Staunton, Nick Read, uk politics, Kemi Badenoch

Id: Uq8a_fARtk4

Length: 8min 5sec (485 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 27 2024