A former Post Office chairman told the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal that in-house lawyers advised him not to share a report he commissioned into the accounting system.
Tim Parker, who held the role for almost seven years from October 2015, said he regretted accepting advice that the conclusions of Jonathan Swift’s 2016 review were legally privileged.
He said he could not remember whether the document was received orally or in writing from Jane MacLeod – general counsel for the Mail.
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Counsel to the inquiry, Jason Beer KC, recalled that Ms MacLeod stated, in her own statement, that she had briefed the council on the findings and that the report was available to members upon request.
But the inquiry found that none of the findings were shared with the Post Office board or the government, much less with lawyers for the hundreds of subpostmasters who, since 1999, had already been convicted of theft and fraud related to the use of Horizon.
Parker said he believed lawyers would follow through on the findings and that the report would later be shared with some possible redactions.
The Swift review questioned the strength of the evidence the Post Office had to secure the convictions.
Each of them has since been annulled, but there continues to be frustration among victims regarding the speed of the compensation processes, despite government intervention.
Parker, questioned by Beer, rejected any suggestion that he would be happy to bury the Swift criticism.
“What possible reason would I have had at the time to hide this report from my fellow board members, other than receiving advice that I should not share it with my fellow board members?”
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“Remember, I had no interest in this, I had no interest in trying to protect the Postal Service… It was simply the advice I got and I followed it.”
He said he believed at the time that the advice was given in good faith, but acknowledged that in hindsight the reason may not have been in the best interest of the subpostmasters.
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He added that he did not recall any briefing from Ms MacLeod, agreeing with Mr Beer that there was no record of this in the minutes of council meetings.
Parker also told the hearing that he had done some soul-searching about whether to make an exhaustive apology to the victims of the miscarriages of justice.
“Today I was joking about making an opening statement. Stand up and say, ‘I’m really, really sorry,’ as many people did, and an argument ensued with people.
“Should I do that? Because I’d like to apologize. And the response I got was that ‘well, you could do that, but actually people have kind of gotten tired of it and it all rings a little hollow and you’re probably just going to piss people off. people more than giving them any notion of your real desire to apologize’.”
The investigation is expected to resume on Tuesday next week.
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