Ten years after making her last public comments, Paula Vennells, who joined the Post Office in 2007 and held the position of chief executive between 2012 and 2019, has given evidence at a public inquiry looking to provide justice to the thousands of people whose lives were ruined in the Horizon scandal. Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of Post Office branch operators were prosecuted on the basis of the faulty accounting software, and thousands more were bankrupted or forced to pay back money.
Vennells said she did not know of IT faults and was ‘too trusting’ of subordinates
Vennells claimed that she was not made aware by her staff of problems with the Horizon IT system. She claimed this was a consequence of the structure of the organisation. She further claimed to have been misled by the Post Office’s legal team. “I have been disappointed, particularly more recently, listening to evidence of the inquiry, where I think I have learned that people knew more than perhaps either they remembered at the time or I knew at the time,” she said. Vennells told the inquiry: “I was too trusting”.
A former CEO of the Royal Mail texted Vennells this year to accuse her of a cover up
Dame Moya Greene, chief executive of Royal Mail between 2010 and 2018, texted Vennells in January this year to express her dismay as further revelations were coming out about the Post Office scandal. Greene, who was Vennells’ boss until 2012 when the Post Office was separated from the Royal Mail, messaged: “I don’t know what to say. I think you knew.” Vennells, who is an ordained priest, responded: “No Moya, that isn’t the case.” Greene responded: “I want to believe you. I asked you twice. I suggested you get an independent review reporting to you. I was afraid you were being lied to. You said the system had already been reviewed multiple times. How could you not have known? … I have supported you all these years to my own detriment … I can’t support you now after what I have learnt.”
Vennells was told in 2011 that Fujitsu had remote access to the Horizon system
An audit by Ernst and Young in 2011 included the identification of a risk posed by Fujitsu’s ability to remotely access the Horizon IT system. The Post Office went on to deny that such access was possible for many years, including in the high court. The revelation that such access was possible led to the exoneration of victims of the scandal. Asked about her knowledge in 2011, Vennells responded that she was not an IT expert and that she had not understood what she had been reading. The inquiry also saw a briefing document given to Vennells before a select committee hearing in 2015. She was advised by her press office to deny that there was remote access unless she was “pushed”. At that point, she was advised to admit that there was such access. Asked about this advice, Vennells: “I am not sure I would have noticed that on the morning of the day.” She added: “Maybe other people knew more than I did and they were trying to direct me in a certain way.”
Vennels claimed that she did not know the Post Office was prosecuting staff until 2012
Despite evidence that Vennells had been in a meeting in 2008 when the subject of training Post Office investigators was raised, she claimed that it was not until 2012 that she understood that the organisation was investigating and prosecuting its own employees. The lead counsel of the inquiry, Jason Beer, wondered what Vennells believed was the purpose of a department called the Post Office Investigation Division. “My only explanation for that is that it had been going on for so long, that it was an accepted reality. It was a status quo when I joined,” Vennells said. “I should have known and I should have asked more questions, and I and others who also did not know should have dug much more deeply into this.”
