I've presented on this topic a number of times now, and it appears to be a gift that just keeps on giving.
The more light gets shone into the dark recesses of corporate governance and operational mismanagement, the more the revelations point to incompetence, self-interest, and sheer bloody-mindedness.
In brief, the installation of a new computer network platform (Horizon) in 1999 was intended to render the daily accounting procedures in the approximately 16,000 sub-post offices operating as a franchise in every town, village, and hamlet across the length and breadth of the UK.
Over the next few weeks, I'll focus on how the scandal came about, who the principal players are, the issues arising, and the jackpot questions of who knew what and when.
Right from the start in 1999, bugs, errors, and defects in the Horizon system were being reported by users unable to account for discrepancies appearing in their day-end financial balances. As an institution, the Post Office had a strong reputation as part and parcel of British everyday life. The local sub-post offices conducted a wide range of transactions from foreign exchange, superannuation payments, savings, dog licenses, and a whole host of other services, all provided by a trusted public servant, appointed after a pretty fastidious due diligence process.
All the more mysterious why there would be not just an uptick in the number of prosecutions for theft but a veritable tsunami of alleged embezzlers, rogues, and miscreants were uncovered in the decade following Horizon installation.
Many of the accused were at pains to eschew any knowledge, personal gain, or understanding of the cause of the imbalances, which resulted, in many cases, prosecutions being pursued by the Post Office, followed by significant custodial jail sentences.
The scale and scope of the legal actions raised against these individuals were eye-watering and baffling.
Yet no one seems to have come forward to challenge these phenomena and ask why, after decades of extremely rare instances of dishonesty and thefts, the first 15 years of the new millennium saw 900 sub-postmasters being prosecuted, with some 235 jailed.
The stories of personal grief, financial ruin, families shattered, and suicides, are heart-rendering, yet those responsible have not been held to account – but more of that later.
Enough to have set the scene for more insights into what has been labelled – the greatest series of miscarriages of justice in the history of the UK.
As the facts continue to develop and further revelations are uncovered, it's hard to dispute that statement.
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