He became an embezzler due to an accounting error… relief mimi
Criticism boils over as the 4-part series airs.
Prime Minister Sunnack “Restoration of honor and compensation for victims”
Victims of the ‘Post Office Scandal’, in which approximately 700 British Post Office workers were unfairly made embezzlers due to an accounting system error, are receiving relief for the first time in about 10 years.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunnack said on the 10th, “We will enact emergency legislation to nullify all victims’ convictions.” Prime Minister Sunnack said of the Post Office scandal, “It is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history,” and “the victims must regain their honor and receive compensation.” According to local media, this is the first case in the UK where court rulings have been collectively invalidated.
The ‘Post Office Scandal’ is an incident in which post office branch managers and employees across the UK were found guilty of accounting fraud and theft due to discrepancies in transaction balances between 1999 and 2015. However, it was later revealed that this was due to an error in the Japanese company Fujitsu’s accounting system ‘Horizon’, which the post office introduced in 1999. In the aftermath, 236 postal workers were imprisoned, and more than four made extreme choices. There were quite a few people who went bankrupt trying to repay the money.
The scandal took a drastic turn in 2009 when the British information technology (IT) magazine ‘Computer Weekly’ pointed out the problem. Afterwards, 555 victims filed a class action lawsuit and received a ruling in 2019 that there was a system error. However, until recently, only 93 cases were overturned, and only partial compensation was paid.
The forgotten incident came to the surface again when the British private ITV four-part drama ‘Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office’ aired on the 1st of this month. Criticism boiled over as the fact that legal relief or compensation had not yet been provided was brought to light. In the end, the police decided to investigate the post office on charges of forcing it to make up for accounting shortfalls, and are also considering taking legal action against Fujitsu.
In order to provide preemptive relief, the British government plans to ask victims to take an ‘oath of innocence’, invalidate their convictions, and pay compensation of 600,000 pounds (about 1 billion won) per person. If actual embezzlement is revealed, prosecution will be carried out based on oath. The government plans to complete all procedures within this year.
Paula Bennells, who served as CEO of the Post Office from 2014 to 2019, returned the medal on the 9th after more than 1 million people joined an online petition to “rescind the Commander of the British Empire (CBE)” following the drama. The New York Times (NYT) commented, “One drama achieved a victory that no politician has achieved in 10 years.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.