MPs to query Post Office about Horizon issues

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/article/ ... are/571505" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

MPs will question Post Office directors on Tuesday about a procedure to hear claims by sub-postmasters that they were blamed for false accounting and fraud that was caused by IT errors.

The Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Committee will have an evidence session on the Post Office mediation scheme on Tuesday 3 February. It will examine alleged problems with the Post Office's Horizon IT system and the mediation scheme set up by the Post Office to address these claims.

A spokesman for Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance said it wanted the government to take over running of the mediation scheme and for there to be an independent review into claims that sub-postmasters were unfairly dismissed.

MPs have criticised the Post Office for its response to claims that its IT system caused about 150 sub-postmasters to be wrongly accused of false accounting and fraud.

Some sub-postmasters have claimed that Horizon accounting software used by thousands of Post Offices nationwide is to blame for some of the accounting discrepancies.

Last year, a leaked report commissioned by the Post Office and done by forensic accountants Second Sight said the technology was not fit for purpose in some branches, although there was no evidence of systemic computer problems.

Bugs were identified in the system by Second Sight in 2013, and in August last year some of the sub-postmasters were acquitted of false accounting.