Scotland Yard has recruited around 80 detectives for its criminal investigation into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, it has emerged.
The Metropolitan Police announced a nationwide probe will examine potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice by senior executives and tech giant Fujitsu.
Since January 2020, a core team of officers and staff has been looking at wide-ranging allegations following a referral from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Guardian reported Yard chiefs asked the government for a special grant of at least £6.75 million to fund the operation. Resources will be similar to UK-wide counter-terrorism investigation.
Last week former Post Office boss Paula Vennells was booed by wrongly convicted subpostmasters at the ongoing public inquiry in central London.
More than 700 were prosecuted by her investigators and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015. Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
Hundreds are still awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.
Commander Stephen Clayman, overseeing the probe, said on Monday: “We understand the widespread and devastating impact the Post Office IT Horizon scandal has had on hundreds of sub-postmasters across the country.
“The Met began a criminal investigation in January 2020 focused on offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
“A team of detectives has been painstakingly working through millions of documents manually and with the help of specialist software, in parallel with the Public Inquiry.
“This is very time consuming and we cannot cut corners and risk missing evidence.
“Given the significant scale of the investigation, it has been agreed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council that the next phase of the investigation will be a national policing effort, coordinated by the Met, with the pursuit of justice at its heart.
“We do not underestimate the seriousness of the task at hand and we are determined to carry out a full investigation with independence, precision and integrity.”
The Met’s criminal investigation will take into account findings of the public inquiry before approaching Crown Prosecution Service lawyers for any final charging decisions. It is understood no files will be submitted to the CPS before 2026.
