- Gareth Jenkins, 69, previously said the Fujitsu system was ‘not corrupt’
The technology expert who built the faulty Horizon IT system is understood to want immunity before appearing at a public inquiry.
Gareth Jenkins, 69, previously gave evidence saying the Fujitsu system was ‘not corrupt’ which helped to wrongfully convict hundreds of postmasters.
The Cambridge maths graduate, from Bracknell, in Berkshire, has twice previously been called in to give evidence to the ongoing public inquiry into the Post Office scandal but on both occasions this has been postponed.
His and another Fujitsu expert’s role in the fallout are currently being looked into by the Metropolitan Police as Scotland Yard also placed the Post Office under a criminal investigation last week over ‘potential fraud offences’.
Mr Jenkins yesterday refused to answer any questions about the scandal and told The Telegraph when asked if he was sorry about what happened: ‘I don’t want to talk. I don’t have anything to say to you.’
In 2021 court statements by Simon Clarke, a barrister hired by the Post Office to review the prosecutions, claimed the IT expert failed to tell at least half a dozen trials about the problems.
He said at the time: ‘This failure is in plain breach of his duty as an expert witness… and has a profound effect upon the Post Office and its prosecutions.’
The document – dating back to 2013 – was filed with the Court of Appeal. It had forced the Post Office to go back and review more than 300 cases.
It comes after shamed ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells yesterday handed back her CBE she was awarded in 2019 after coming under intense pressure.
She is now facing calls to return £3million in bonuses and pension as campaigners said her decision to hand the honour back with immediate effect was a token gesture and it was time she faced ‘real justice’.
Ms Vennells, 65, pocketed as much as £5million for being in charge during the Horizon IT scandal in which hundreds of postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted, bankrupted and jailed.
And she is now facing calls to return £2.93million in performance-related perks and payments in lieu of pension.
The campaigners point out that the bonuses were linked to financial figures inflated by postmasters having to pay back ‘missing’ cash from their own savings.
Will Harrison, whose postmistress mother Sam died last year without proper redress for the losses inflicted on her, said: ‘Giving back her CBE is trivial when people’s lives were destroyed.
‘She absolutely must hand back her bonus money, because she should never have had it in the first place.
‘She was paid this fortune from a fraudulent pot of money that came indirectly from the pockets of the sub postmasters – many of whom were left destitute.’
Mrs Harrison from Nawton, North Yorkshire, was one of the 555 claimants who featured in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The faulty Horizon system wrongly reported a £3,000 shortfall at her tiny one-counter Post Office in Nawton and like many others she was forced to pay back the money from her own savings.
Campaigner and former sub-postmaster Chris Trousdale said: ‘Paula Vennells should be stripped of her wealth, pension and reputation, just like the sub-postmasters were. The execs’ bonuses, their pensions and their pay were based on figures inflated by victims’ money… bigwigs like Paula Vennells who are now living lives of luxury.’
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said Downing Street ‘wouldn’t want to see anyone financially benefiting out of this scandal’. Rishi Sunak had supported calls for a review of the CBE and his spokesman said handing it back was ‘the right decision’.
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