Leaked documents show that at the height of the Horizon scandal, more than £1 million was diverted into Post Office profits in unexplained transactions.
The documents, seen by Sky News, show snapshots of transfers from one company. post office “Miscellaneous Customers” suspense account for the four years ending 2014.
A suspense account is where unexplained or disputed transactions are held until they can be “reconciled.”
After three years, the unaccounted transactions are transferred from the post office suspense account to the profit and loss account.
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Ian Henderson, director of Second Sight, the forensic accountants hired by the Post Office many years ago, said: “The Post Office doesn’t print money. It just accumulates funds in its suspense account.
“These funds belong to someone, either to a third-party client or to the deputy postmaster general, and part of what we did in 2015 was to look into that in depth.”
Henderson said they were fired shortly after raising questions about whether the post office profited from the difference in payments made by the deputy postmaster general.
Mr Henderson told Sky News the money may have come from the deputy postmaster general’s pocket
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In February 2015, Alisdair Cameron, the Post Office’s chief financial officer, noted in a letter to Second Sight that some “posts could not be traced back to” the “underlying transactions”.
“We are not always able to work backwards from the consolidated total to itemize all the underlying transactions,” he added.
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Mr Henderson said the letter showed “the Post Office is benefiting from this uncertainty, frankly, but their profit and loss accounts are benefiting from it because of poor record keeping”.
He insisted it was impossible to determine whether the deputy postmaster’s money found its way into post office profits due to a “lack of granularity”.
As a result, he said it was in the “sound public interest” that the use of suspense accounts should be subject to further independent review.
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Henderson added: “This money didn’t just come out of thin air, where did it come from? That’s a fundamental question that the Post Office has yet to answer.”
Meanwhile, a secret recording obtained by Sky News shows the Post Office is trying to silence independent forensic accountants.
The recording is of a January 2014 meeting between Second Sight, attorneys and postal service representatives.
The incident occurred more than a year before the accountant was fired.
During the call, there were signs that the relationship between the Post Office and Second Sight was beginning to weaken.
Discussions are currently underway on a contractual confidentiality agreement, a “letter of engagement” between the parties.
Ian Henderson is recorded saying: “You know, we either have unfettered discretion and authority to just talk to MPs or we don’t.
“Right now, the way the document is drafted, we can’t do that. That’s the problem.”
His colleague at Second Sight, Ron Warmington, agreed.
In another part of the recording, concerns were heightened about investigators being unable to speak to members of Congress.
Mr Henderson said: “My view is that we should not be in a position where the applicant or Second Sight cannot respond fully and candidly to the councillors, who, you know, candidly started the whole process.”
Postal service representatives responded that they were not trying to silence anyone.
Mr Henderson described “a point of principle”: “Like when we conduct on-site reviews, when members of Congress ask us a specific question, we disclose to them information provided to us by Fujitsu and the Post Office.
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“That’s why it’s so important to establish the principle that there should be no hindrance to being able to discuss our investigative work with MPs.”
At the same meeting, his colleague Ron Warmington said that if it was later discovered that Second Sight had been “effectively gagged” in its dealings with MPs, “it wouldn’t be Second Sight that they would be particularly annoyed with. But the post office” “.
The representative responded directly: “I think if that comes up, the post office is going to have to deal with that.”
Adding, “Some of the gag terms may overstate what’s being attempted here, and you haven’t signed anything yet.”
The Post Office released a statement on the findings, saying: “A statutory public inquiry, chaired by a judge with the power to question witnesses on oath, is the best forum to examine the issues raised by this evidence.
“We will continue to fully support the investigation to uncover the truth about what happened and hold those accountable.”
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