During a recent public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, former Royal Mail CEO Moya Greene accused Paula Vennells of being aware of the issues at the Post Office that were causing harm to subpostmasters. Text exchanges between Greene and Vennells were revealed during the hearing, following the broadcast of an ITV drama about the scandal.
In the messages, Greene expressed disappointment in Vennells for not taking action when it became clear that the Horizon system was faulty. She questioned Vennells’ knowledge of the situation and accused her of being aware of the harm being done to subpostmasters. Vennells denied this, but Greene ultimately expressed her lack of support for Vennells going forward.
Vennells claimed that she was not informed about the bugs and defects in the Horizon system or the lack of integrity in the system. She shifted blame to others for not informing her of these issues, including Fujitsu and a lack of corporate memory within the organization.
During the inquiry, Vennells was questioned about her knowledge of remote access to branch accounts, which was controversial at the time. Despite being given information that remote access was possible, Vennells claimed she still believed it was not possible when she went to a parliamentary select committee hearing in 2015.
Vennells, who was awarded a CBE for her services to the Post Office before facing backlash and having the award withdrawn, was also criticized for the Post Office’s handling of the High Court battle against subpostmasters and the loss of taxpayer money as a result. The Horizon scandal, first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealed the challenges faced by subpostmasters due to accounting software errors.