Greater than £1m of unexplained transactions had been transferred in to Publish Workplace revenue on the top of the Horizon scandal, leaked paperwork have proven.
The papers, seen by Sky Information, present a snapshot of transfers from a Publish Workplace “miscellaneous shopper” suspense account over a four-year interval, as much as 2014.
A suspense account is the place unexplained, or disputed, transactions stay till they’re able to be “reconciled”.
Unaccounted-for transactions had been transferred out of the Publish Workplace suspense account and into their revenue and loss account after three years.
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Ian Henderson, director of Second Sight – the forensic accountants employed years in the past by Publish Workplace – mentioned: “The Publish Workplace was not printing cash. It was accumulating funds in its suspense account.
“These funds belong to someone, both to third-party shoppers or to sub-postmasters, and a part of the work we had been doing in 2015 was drilling into that.”
Mr Henderson mentioned they had been sacked not lengthy after asking questions on whether or not the Publish Workplace profited from shortfalls paid for by sub-postmasters.
Mr Henderson instructed Sky Information that the cash might probably have come from sub-postmasters’ pockets
Greater than 900 sub-postmasters had been wrongly prosecuted as a consequence of faults with Horizon accounting software program.
A letter from Alisdair Cameron, the Publish Workplace’s chief monetary officer, to Second Sight in February 2015 states some “postings can’t be traced” to “underlying transactions”.
He added: “We’re not all the time in a position to drill again from the mixed totals to itemise all of the underlying transactions.”
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Mr Henderson mentioned the letter reveals that “the Publish Workplace was benefiting from this uncertainty as a consequence of, frankly, unhealthy document protecting, however taking it to the advantage of their revenue and loss account”.
He maintains that it is unimaginable to show for positive that sub-postmasters’ cash went into Publish Workplace revenue due to a “lack of granularity”.
He says due to this fact that it’s of “ample public curiosity” {that a} additional impartial evaluate into using suspense accounts ought to occur.
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Mr Henderson added: “It did not come from skinny air, the place did the cash come from? That is a basic query the Publish Workplace has not answered.”
In the meantime, individually, a secret recording obtained by Sky Information signifies that the Publish Workplace was attempting to gag the impartial forensic accountants.
The recording is of a gathering in January 2014 between Second Sight, a lawyer and a Publish Workplace consultant.
It happened over a yr earlier than the accountants had been sacked.
Within the convention name, there are indicators the connection between the Publish Workplace and Second Sight was starting to weaken.
There may be dialogue a couple of contractual confidentiality settlement, a “letter of engagement” between the events.
Within the recording, Ian Henderson says: “Both, you understand, we’ve unfettered discretion and authorisation to simply discuss to MPs or we’ve not.
“In the meanwhile, the best way the doc is drafted, we’re prevented from doing that. That is the difficulty.”
His colleague at Second Sight, Ron Warmington is heard agreeing.
In one other a part of the recording, there are extra issues raised that the investigators are being blocked from speaking to MPs.
Mr Henderson says: “My level is we shouldn’t be gagging both the applicant or Second Sight in having the ability to reply, you understand, totally and albeit to MPs who frankly type of set this complete course of in movement.”
The Publish Workplace consultant replies, saying they are not attempting to gag anyone.
Mr Henderson describes “a degree of precept”: “In precisely the identical approach that after we had been doing spot opinions, we disclosed to MPs, once they requested us a particular query, the knowledge offered to us by Fujitsu and by Publish Workplace.
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“And that is why it is so necessary to determine this precept that there ought to be no gagging of Second Sight in relation to having the ability to talk about our investigative work with MPs.”
In the identical assembly, his colleague Ron Warmington mentioned that if it later emerges that Second Sight have been “successfully gagged” in its coping with MPs, “it is not going to be Second Sight they’re notably aggravated with, it may be Publish Workplace”.
The consultant responds straight with: “I feel that is one thing that the Publish Workplace must take care of if – if it arises.”
Including that “a few of the terminology by way of gagging might be an exaggeration of what it’s that’s attempting to be performed right here, and in the intervening time you have not signed something.”
The Publish Workplace launched an announcement in response to the findings, saying: “The statutory public inquiry, chaired by a choose with the ability to query witnesses below oath, is the perfect discussion board to look at the problems raised by this proof.
“We proceed to stay totally centered on supporting the inquiry to get to the reality of what occurred and accountability for that.”
