The recent Post Office scandal has revealed a corporate disregard for what is ethical in favour of maximising profits. The roll out of a computer system called Horizon to thousands of postmasters in the UK was done against the advice of Fujitsu’s engineers who had recommended rewriting the accounting software.
Instead, the company let the Horizon software indicate that hundreds of postmasters were involved in theft and false accounting. The CEO of Post Office Ltd, Paula Vennells has been forced to hand back her CBE honour as the truth was revealed that prosecutions brought by the Post Office were unsafe, unproven and that the software was riddled with bugs that messed up the reconciliation of accounts.
Prosecutions could be brought by the Post Office without the involvement of the police or crown prosecution service. Their investigators bullied staff and offered to drop theft charges if they pled guilty to false accounting. They lied to them that they were the only ones who had difficulty reconciling their accounts with the Horizon software.
Why did the CEO insist on hundreds of prosecutions rather than carry out an investigation into the reliability of Fujitsu’s software package? The consequences of that decision were that honest people had their reputations and livelihoods taken away from them, faced imprisonment and bankruptcy and at least one person took their own life because of the unbearable stress.
The corporate goal advocated by Paula Vennells had been to make the Post Office break even. Did this justify accusing hundreds of innocent people of theft? A public company must be responsible for the welfare of those who work for it. Who in the Post Office will be punished for their callous disregard for that obligation and the lies they told to protect a faulty computer system?
Fujitsu has been quick to accept some responsibility but won’t say more while the government enquiry is ongoing. Postmasters have yet to receive adequate compensation.
The ITV drama documentary, Mr Bates Vs the Post Office has shone a light on this scandal and is a savage indictment of corporate immorality.
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