Post Office conducted ‘one side of coin’ report on IT system accused of faults

Post Office Limited’s former head of product and branch accounting gave evidence to the Horizon inquiry on Thursday.

Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses were prosecuted based on information from the Horizon accounting system (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

A “one side of the coin” report was commissioned by Post Office management to give assurances about its IT system as subpostmasters accused it of being faulty, the Horizon inquiry has been told.

Post Office Limited’s former head of product and branch accounting, Rod Ismay, denied he was engaged in a “whitewash” when he authored the Ismay Report in 2010, despite admitting “it could look imbalanced”.

The witness admitted to the inquiry it was an opportunity to discover “a decade earlier than we did” the flaws of the Horizon IT system.