Post Office scandal details behind shock conspiracy – EXPOSED | Politics | News | EUROtoday

An MP who was one of many first politicians to boost the alarm concerning the Post Office scandal which noticed tons of of sub-postmasters wrong-convicted and imprisoned for fraud has alleged that the IT firm concerned intentionally focused one of many victims.

North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen, who first raised the difficulty in 2012 greater than a decade in the past, used Parliamentary privilege to boost the case of one among his constituents Michael Rudkin, former chairman of the National Federation of sub-postmasters.

Recounting a surprising story, he mentioned: “Michael Rudkin visited Fujitsu’s headquarters in Bracknell and inadvertently witnessed IT engineers there secretly altering the accounts of sub-postmasters in Horizon.

“When the managers at Fujitsu realised what my constituent had seen, they ejected him from the constructing, and he travelled again to his publish workplace in Ibstock, the place his spouse Susan was his workplace supervisor.”

He went on: “The subsequent morning, Mr and Mrs Rudkin have been topic to an early morning raid by the Post Office’s inspectors, who declared {that a} £44,000 deficit had appeared on their pc in a single day.

“Criminal convictions resulted. I never believed it was a coincidence that the Post Office found this massive deficit shortfall on my constituent’s computer the same day he uncovered what Fujitsu was doing.

“When I challenged Fujitsu, it mentioned that Mr Rudkin had by no means been to its premises and it had misplaced the guests’ e-book for the day in query.

“My constituents want to know who will be held to account for more than a decade of false incrimination and humiliation suffered by my constituents.”

The Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake thought “the coincidence” was shocking as properly.

Around 700 sub-postmasters have been tried on account of defective Horizon software program with greater than 200 wrongly despatched to jail for alleged fraud.

Mr Bridgen’s accusation means that there might have been a conspiracy to cowl up the fault and push forward with trials though the corporate and Post Office might have been conscious of the faults.

Mr Hollinrake mentioned: “Mr Rudkin was one of the stars of the show in the dramatisation, and I am so sorry to hear what happened to him and his wife through the Post Office’s actions. It seems incredibly coincidental that those two things coincided—the visit to Fujitsu, what he discovered at that point and then what happened the next day in discovering a £44,000 shortfall in his accounts.

“We all now know that Fujitsu and the Post Office have been in a position to amend the publish workplace accounts. It appears extremely coincidental, but additionally, as I mentioned, brutal and cynical by way of what might need occurred.

“We should let Sir Wyn Williams determine exactly what has happened and who is responsible before we judge and blame. I am just as keen as the hon. Gentleman to see individuals held to account for what happened in this scandal.”

A Fujitsu spokesman mentioned: “The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory Inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge.

“The Inquiry has bolstered the devastating affect on postmasters’ lives and that of their households, and Fujitsu has apologised for its position of their struggling.

“Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the Inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it. Out of respect for the Inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.”