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Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has defended his actions over the Post Office scandal.
The scandal saw the Post Office prosecute 736 former postmasters and postmistresses for postal theft, fraud, and false accounting based on information from a faulty computer system, Horizon.
Some went to prison while many were financially ruined and several took their own lives.
Victims were given criminal convictions despite people maintaining their innocence they had repeatedly raised issues with Horizon.
Ed Davey has defended his actions
GBNews
Speaking about the scandal with GB News, MP Ed Davey said: “The Post Office was lying on an industrial scale to me and other ministers, and when I met Alan Bates and listened to his concerns, I put those concerns to officials in my department post office, to the National Federation of Postmasters, and it’s clear they all were lying to me.
He added: “I have a postmaster who was a victim in my own constituency. He was convicted and sent to prison for 16 months.
“It makes you sick in my stomach to think that there was an innocent man in prison for all that time. And my heart goes out to all those people.
“We need to make sure their convictions are overturned and we need to make sure they are fairly compensated and quickly.”
Between the years 1999 and 2015 the Post Office pursued branch owners across the country for alleged theftPA
Ed Davey was postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012 and there have been calls for the MP to resign.
This is because sub-postmaster Alan Bates claimed that he grew increasingly frustrated as he wrote to Davey several times over the issue.
It has been reported by The Sunday Times that in a letter in May 2010, Bates urged Davey to intervene and push for an independent external investigation.
Davey reportedly responded by saying that the integrity of the Horizon system is a matter for Post Office Ltd and not the government.
Ed Davey allegedly responded by saying that the integrity of the Horizon system is a matter for Post Office Ltd not the government
GBNews
He added: “Whilst I do appreciate your concerns… I do not believe a meeting would serve any useful purpose.”
Bates then pushed even harder for a meeting claiming that Davey’s “arm’s length” approach had enabled the Post Office to “carry on with impunity regardless of the human misery and suffering they inflict”.
He added: “You can meet with us and hear the real truth behind Horizon.” The MP then did meet Bates but it has been claimed that he did not take the workers seriously.
Davey, and the Lib Dems in general, have been accused of “fobbing off the victims.”
Have you been affected by the Horizon IT scandal? If you’d like to share your story, get in touch with money@gbnews.uk.
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