Read yesterday’s updates from the inquiry here
10.30am: The room has gone noticeably quieter as the biggest figure in this scandal has her final say. Leek says Vennells was given information which was ‘incomplete or incorrect or which was not given at all’.
Leek adds: ‘When witnesses have given recent evidence of matters relevant to Miss Vennells without there being supporting contemporaneous documents, this evidence should be approached cautiously. It is inevitable, having regard to the very human desire for self-preservation, that witnesses will now seek to distance themselves from Miss Vennells.’
This is going to be bombshell stuff, I suspect.
10.20am: Samantha Leek KC, the lawyer for former chief executive Paula Vennells (who is not here, by the way) is next up to speak. She refers to the 138-page statement provided by Vennells (which you can find here: SUBS0000071 – Closing Statement on Behalf of Paula Vennells | Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry). Leek adds: ‘It is only by looking forensically at all of the documentation that a fair picture of Miss Vennells’ actions can be seen.’
10.10am: Greaney goes into detail about how the Post Office has already changed much of its governance policies. She notes that the interim general counsel attends board meetings as standard now. This issue of the senior lawyer attending meetings was a crucial part of the inquiry evidence, when it emerged that then-GC Susan Crichton was locked out of a meeting in 2013 and could not present an update on prosecutions.
Greaney finishes with another apology to those affected by the Post Office scandal, and tells the inquiry that the organisation will be judged in the months and years to come not by its words but by its actions.
We take a quick break.
10am: Greaney acknowledges that senior executives did not even know the Post Office had a private prosecutorial function as late as 2012. These finally stopped in 2014 (although there has been a suggestion in recent weeks that two sub-postmasters have been under investigation for alleged shortfalls).
Greaney assures the inquiry the Post Office has no intention to carry out any of its own prosecutions again.
9.55am: Greaney says the Post Office failed to ensure that the Clarke Advice, which highlighted that key evidence from expert witness Gareth Jenkins was flawed, was shared among the organisation. But she suggests this was not a deliberate ploy by the lawyers.
She goes on: ‘There was a collective failure on the part of the then Post Office legal team to appreciate its full significance and inadequate processes were in place for sharing the substance of key legal advice with the board, rather than an attempt to prevent the advice being considered by the board.’
9.50am: Post Office lawyer Nicola Greaney KC admits the organisation was too focused on protecting the brand and junior staff did not feel able to speak up when they saw something was wrong. On executives, she adds: ‘Important senior roles were occupied by individuals who regrettably lacked sufficient understanding of the obligations and responsibilities attached to those roles.’
9.45am: The Post Office lawyer (who we are just trying to identify) opens with a mea culpa: She says: ‘The Post Office recognises that its actions have caused harm and suffering to postmasters, their families and to many others. I would like to start by reiterating Post Office’s apology for the damage that it has caused to every person who has been affected by the Horizon IT scandal.
‘The Post Office says it has changed as an organisation and is appalled by the evidence that has been heard about the actions of the last 20 years. The reliance on Fujitsu, it adds, is a source of ‘deep regret’.
9.30am: We are up and running for the final hearing day of the Post Office Inquiry. Yesterday featured closing submissions from the lawyers representing victims, and today is the turn of the lawyers for the Post Office, its former chief executive Paula Vennells and controversial expert witness Gareth Jenkins.
