UK Government to Reverse Convictions in Postal Scandal

Over 900 Post Office Managers Wrongly Accused Due to Faulty IT System

• British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced plans to reverse the convictions of over 900 Post Office branch managers who were wrongly accused of theft or fraud due to a faulty computer system, in a scandal that has been described as one of the gravest injustices in the nation's history.
• The Horizon IT system, developed by Japanese company Fujitsu and rolled out by the Post Office in 1999, was found to contain numerous 'bugs, errors and defects', leading to unexplained losses that branch managers were held responsible for.
• Between 2000 and 2014, some 900 postal workers were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting, with some convicted and imprisoned and others forced into bankruptcy. In total, over 2,000 people were affected by the scandal, with some committing suicide or attempting it, and others reporting their marriages falling apart and becoming community pariahs.
• The government plans to set aside 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion) to compensate the wrongly convicted and others whose lives were ruined in the scandal. To date, nearly 150 million pounds have been paid to more than 2,500 victims.
• An ongoing public inquiry will identify the organizations and individuals responsible for the scandal, and some members of Parliament have called for charges to be brought against those who were aware of the software problems and allowed prosecutions to go forward.

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