bakgrund
Brittiska postskandalen
Wikipedia (en)
The British Post Office Scandal is a widespread and long-lasting series of individual miscarriages of justice which, between 1999 and 2015, involved over 700 sub-postmasters being wrongly convicted of theft, false accounting and fraud when shortfalls at their branches were in fact due to errors of the Post Office's Horizon accounting software. In 2019, the High Court ruled that the Horizon system was faulty and in 2020 the government established a public inquiry. In April 2021 the Court of Appeal quashed 39 convictions. As of January 2024, some victims are still fighting to have their convictions overturned and receive compensation, the public inquiry is ongoing, and the Metropolitan Police is investigating for potential fraud offences.The Horizon accounting system was developed by ICL Pathway, owned by the Japanese company Fujitsu. In 1999 the Post Office rolled out the new software to its branch and sub-offices, the latter managed by subpostmasters on a self-employed basis under contracts with the Post Office. Almost immediately, some subpostmasters noticed the new system reporting false shortfalls, sometimes for thousands of pounds. The Post Office insisted that the system was robust and, when shortfalls occurred, prosecuted the subpostmasters or forced them to make up the amount.The subpostmasters won in a group action brought in court against the Post Office. The Post Office insisted that the payments made as part of this lawsuit were full and final compensation. As the scope of the problem became apparent, the Post Office said it could not afford additional compensation. There were calls for the British government to step in, as it was the sole shareholder. After appeals by MPs in 2021, the government promised financial compensation to the victims, as the Post Office did not have sufficient resources.In September 2020, the government established the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, chaired by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams. In June 2021, after two initial hearings, the inquiry was converted into a statutory inquiry. In November 2021, it held a preliminary List of Issues Hearing and, in February 2022, commenced a series of Human Impact Hearings. It is also investigating whether the Post Office and ICL's owner, Fujitsu, knew about the faults. A four-part television drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, was broadcast on ITV in January 2024, after which the scandal became a major news story and political issue.
