Ed Davey has serious questions to answer over Post Office scandal, victims say

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Sir Ed Davey has “serious questions to answer” over his position within the Horizon IT scandal and will think about quitting, former Post Office department managers have stated.

The Liberal Democrat chief was postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012 and has been accused of having “fobbed off” victims of the scandal, which has been described as essentially the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK historical past.

More than 700 department managers got prison convictions after defective Horizon accounting software program, developed by Fujitsu, made it seem as if cash was lacking.

And now ex-postmasters have urged Sir Ed to “look in the mirror” and think about stepping down.

Jo Hamilton, who led a landmark enchantment within the marketing campaign for postmasters, instructed The Times that Sir Ed ought to have “done his job”. The Lib Dem chief was instructed of considerations concerning the defective software program earlier than a whole lot of postmasters had been prosecuted.

And Ms Hamilton stated: “Of course Davey should have been asking more questions, he’s the minister, what does he get his ministerial salary for if he’s not asking questions. What did he think, we were just moaning? I can’t believe it.

“If you’re the minister you deal with stuff — that is the job. You have to earn your money for doing the job like the rest of us. They’re called public servants but they do anything but serve the public.

“He always calls for other people’s resignations, now it’s time for him to look in the mirror.”

Sir Ed has taken to Twitter 31 occasions to name for public figures to resign their positions since changing into Lib Dem chief in April 2019.

A spokesman for the Lib Dems stated Sir Ed “completely understands the anger of the victims who suffered from this appalling miscarriage of justice”.

“In hindsight he wishes he could have done more to help them,” they added.

The spokesman stated Sir Ed had been lied to “on an industrial scale” by the Post Office and different ministers.

“His focus is now on getting justice and compensation as quickly as possible to all those affected,” the spokesman stated.

Lib Dem MP and former chief Tim Farron stated: “Ed has said how much he regrets that the Post Office was lying to him, just like it was to everyone else.

“He’s experienced more than his fair share of tragedy in his life, I know he feels the pain of those affected by this scandal very deeply.”

Another former postmaster Seema Misra, who was jailed whereas pregnant in November 2010, whereas Sir Ed was postal affairs minister, stated he ought to stop.

She instructed The Times: “He was in a position of power, and he could have stepped forward to find out what was going on. He could have turned the whole thing around, but he chose not to. He’s definitely liable.”

The renewed deal with the scandal comes amid a brand new ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

Alan Bates, performed by Toby Jones, has spent 20 years of his life combating for justice after a whole lot of fellow postmasters and postmistresses had been accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to defective computer systems.

In 1999, Horizon, a faulty Fujitsu IT system, started incorrectly reporting money shortfalls at branches throughout the nation. The accusations tore folks’s lives aside, with many dropping their jobs and houses.

Several folks took their very own lives due to the stress.

To today, not a single Post Office or Fujitsu worker has been held to account over the scandal, a lot much less confronted prison investigation. Sixty of the victims have died earlier than discovering any justice in any respect.