{"id":26939,"date":"2024-01-07T04:34:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T09:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=26939"},"modified":"2024-01-07T04:34:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T09:34:56","slug":"post-office-scandal-met-police-investigate-potential-fraud-offences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/01\/07\/post-office-scandal-met-police-investigate-potential-fraud-offences\/","title":{"rendered":"Post Office scandal: Met Police investigate ‘potential fraud offences’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Metropolitan Police is looking at “potential fraud offences” committed in the Horizon IT scandal.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 700 Post Office branch managers were accused of wrongdoing after faulty accounting software made it appear money was missing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Met said it was investigating possible fraud offences from these cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It comes as 50 new potential victims of the scandal have contacted lawyers following an ITV drama about the issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Neil Hudgell, a lawyer who acts for claimants, told the BBC that some of those seeking advice were former sub-postmasters who were prosecuted by the Post Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Met Police said the potential offences could have been related to “monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The force has already been looking into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice in relation to investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Two people have been interviewed under caution but nobody has been arrested since the investigation was launched in January 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Between 1999 and 2015 more than 700 sub-postmasters were accused of wrongdoing based on information from a faulty accounting system, Horizon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Metropolitan Police said on Friday evening,\u00a0as originally reported by the Times<\/a>, that officers were “investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions” which included “monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The force also said in the statement: “The Met is investigating potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“These potential offences arise out of investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The investigation was launched in January 2020 following a referral from the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Two people have been interviewed under caution. Nobody has been arrested.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Some sub-postmasters wrongfully went to prison, many were financially ruined, forced to declare bankruptcy, while others describe being shunned by their communities following convictions for false accounting and theft. Some have since died.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The case has been described as one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in British history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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To date, 93 convictions have been overturned and of those, only 27 people have agreed “full and final settlements”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Some 54 cases have resulted in a conviction being upheld, people being refused permission to appeal or the person appealing withdrawing from the process, according to the Post Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There has been widespread sympathy for the victims after the four-part mini-series Mr Bates vs the Post Office: The Real Story aired on ITV this week. It centres on the story of sub-postmaster Alan Bates, played by actor Toby Jones, who drove the campaign to expose the scandal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It focuses on the legal battle he led and won, paving the way for dozens of convictions to be overturned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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