A Letter to my MP

“Day 16: Wrongdoing as well as failure.”

Disclaimer: this post is written in a personal capacity representing my views.

I emailed my MP. I email him from time to time, and he always replies unless I clearly write no reply required.

I wrote this email because the Horizon affair is an embarrassment to government as well as the Post Office and Fujitsu. I'm, sure it will be kicked down the road and end up as an item in a catalogue of government IT failures. But I want him to know that the wool has not been pulled over my eyes: that individuals in both the Post Office and Fujitsu knowingly gave false report that resulted in convictions of innocent people.

Mark,

I've seen the written statement from Paul Scully about the review into the débacle with the Horizon system. ( https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-06-10/HCWS280/ )

I am disappointed in the terms of reference. They are written to find the corporate failures that resulted in these miscarriages of justice – which there doubtless were. Terrible, terrible failures with a faulty system being made live, and no independent reconciliation of transactions to verify they were true. A failure at the most basic level to ensure probity in a financial system.

But it's not OK to classify everything as corporate failure when there was also wrongdoing, wrongdoing where individuals knowingly presented false evidence that resulted in wrongful convictions. Those who explicitly perjured themselves have already been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions (and please use whatever influence you have to ensure these referrals result in prosecution), but there was more widespread wrongdoing in both the Post Office and in Fujitsu.

The Horizon review needs to be an inquiry, and the terms of reference need to include the finding of wrongdoing. The resulting prosecutions would be complex, but are important.

Dunstan

This post is day 16 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Visit https://100daystooffload.com to get more info, or to get involved.