'What's the answer?' Post Office boss challenged over Horizon scandal during committee grilling
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- Опубликовано: 15 янв 2024
- The current chief executive of the Post Office was challenged over the Horizon scandal during an appearance in front of MPs.
Nick Read who joined the business in 2019 - after the worst years of the scandal - faced a series of tough questions from Liam Byrne.
The Horizon scandal saw more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses handed criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
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His answer was a straight - "I need more time with my expensive legal team to see if I can lie my way out of this".
Here is the thing, apart from all the other aspects of this affair the role of Lord Neuberger in the Recusal seems to have escaped attention.
I have therefore pasted the following ‘The role of Lord Neuberger in the recusal fiasco (Justice Fraser) should be investigated’ on as many RUclips articles as I could, about ten, but when I checked to see if there was any response I discovered they had all been taken down.
This Kafkaesque episode staggers one at every turn, even when Big brother has been outed he seems to be still working away!
I really want to know why Lord Neuberger interfered , if the recusal had succeeded the whole noble attempt at taking on the stinking system would have failed.
@@davidgay1z If you spam the same message over and over, however justified the content, you can expect that RUclips's filters will detect that and delete your messages.
I think what this Post Office scandal has done for me is to solidify my belief that corporations, across all fields are just the worst, the worst people, the horrendous arrogance, the people who spin and lie their way in and out of power. Sickening. We need to somehow get to a place where people behave in an honest and compassionate way to other human beings.
Absolutely spot on. Problem is, the entitled classes do whatever they wish and their mates enable it. Time for change, time for prison for these filth.
I've used the phrase..." they're ALL at it !" for years now. I don't think i'm far from the truth either. The growth of narcissism in the population doesn't help. Dilusionally 'entitled' people, lacking empathy who simply won't accept blame because they can never do any wrong, in their own minds. There are more than a few of them about!
just imagine you have access to more money than you will ever need ! gold medals on your chest and all you have to do is tread on some little poor people with no voice, its a simple choice for the few at the top
There has to be something wrong with your personality to seek power and excess wealth. Good people are not interested in controlling others, they want to live quiet creative lives with people they love. These bosses spend most of their overpaid time in internal politics, suppressing rivals and designing schemes for their own enrichment. A few years after their arrival the companies are found to be bankrupt as they jet away to the yacht. It's called 'modern management'.
100% correct , i have felt this way since Blair got into number 10 . These are the same people who fund both major political parties & keep the con going , rinsing the general public & destroying our societies one step at a time .
This CEO is also poor……can’t answer a straight question…been there 4 years and chooses not to answer.
Needs to go..
Agreed. Simply not good enough at this stage. 4 years in post, and can't give a straight answer to a very simple question. The reason being, I suspect, that the post office knew about remote access from the beginning, or even requested it as a feature in the contract specification.
Absolutely spot on.......biggest cover up ever...
Slippery as an eel. Lying is their default position.
He would make a good politician with those characteristics
Post Office still acting the same as it has done right from the beginning. Absolutely shameful.
It is time for all those obscenely paid executives at Fujitsu and the Post Office to face true justice in the court of law. Executives take the big salaries, now it is time to take the fall for the corporate crimes.
Yes, and they now need to focus on those employees of both Fudgeshitsu and the Post Office who lied under oath and start handing down the mandatory five year sentences for perjury!!!!
They are supposedly paid huge salaries as they bear responsibility. But clearly in today's world there simply is no accountability in the executive world. But I guess it gives new meaning to the phrase "the buck stops with them"! With such blatant crony capitalism, is it any wonder people are losing faith in Western democracies?
They won't a lesser mortal will take the punishment to appease the public look at Libor to see how than ran
Chief Executive should resign.
He doesn't know when Post Office staff first knew remote access was possible! It beggars belief that it's something he would not have desperately wanted to know from day one in the job, must therefore know and is simply withholding. Whoever has the power to sack him (the Postmaster General?) should sack him this afternoon - and let him fight for compensation.
Hang on , please don’t be unreasonable, he needs more than 4 years to find the answer!
And postmasters were given days to respond to theft allegations!
Makes my blood boil.
Totally unacceptable !!!
Compensation what compensation 😂
4 yrs to do absolutely nothing....
this guy knew and did nothing...he is as guilty as the rest
The simple answer is prison!
Fujitsu admitted to knowing something was up with the system yet the post office still prosecuted all those INNOCENT people??
"Both surprised and disappointed"? Not even close to the pain these Postmasters feel....
If I were a potential employee sat in an interview these days, I would need to know if people such as Nick Read were holding positions such as Chief Exec.
For someone in his position to come to an inquiry such as this, you would expect him to have the awnsers after 4 years in the position. Disgraceful.
Some people are born to lie, cheat and avoid any consequences; this looks like one of them!
hear hear
And they usually end up at the top.
There is a word for people like that. Politicians.
Just a thought, but surely they should be questionng not just the current head honchos at the Post Office and Fujitsu but the folk who were in charge before them, given that this has been going on for 25 years...? It grieves me to hear both these guys say that they didn't know the answers to some questions as they referred to actions that happened before their tenure began. That ain't good enough...
Why didn’t the chairman ask the PO official to come back tomorrow with the answer to the committee.
"Look I've done 4 years feathering my nest, lunching and booking holidays. I don't care about this stuff as it didn't happen under my watch, therefore, it has nothing to do with me!"
"I see, well that shows you to be a complete and utter Kent who should refund bonuses etc as you are a waste of space!"
What a joke.
I hope the PO bosses, past and present get a bonus for sorting this out, it must be horrendous for them to face reality.
Great straight forward questions from Mr. Byrne. Well done.
Ohhh if only the UK was a democracy.
What colour is that grass Mr Read? I'll come back to you on that...
The calibre of these people in top positions is shocking.
never mind these impotent inquiries...get all these lying barstewards in a court of law...and do the job properly...
The lying in court squad need to be looking at this lot.
Still being crooks.
Was remote access in the post office spec for Fujitsu to design in it's system? Ask that question. Get a copy of the po spec.
Very good question.
... and if it was in the spec, who signed it off, both as a requirement and during the system acceptance. If it wasn't in the spec, where is the Fujitsu CEO to answer why it was a security back door added to a customers system without their knowledge?
@@simonbaxter8001 that's a great question. Much more accurate than mine. Thanks.
Unbelievable! How much is that man being paid?
The likely only reason Fujitsu had remote access to the postmaster systems will be that it was specified as a system requirement by the Post Office.
It will not be something that suddenly appeared.
...agreed.
In which case the answer’s easy, and that answer is, “from the first day the system was implemented”
Why didn't the accused have a tribunal,? Why aren't these shysters in a court?
He deserves a CBE already , he has all the necessary skills
Indeed, then Tory Treasurer followed by the House of Lords.
😂😂😂😂
HE CAN REMEMBER FACTS AND NUMBERS WHEN HE WANT,S TO..........
He knows full well the answer.
Absolutely scandalous
Absolutely disgraceful, this man is lying through his teeth. How can he stand to look at himself in a mirror ???
These people in charge (postoffice & Government) making decisions were in fact trustees and and as trustees should be held accountable and see their accests frozen to ensure both compensation and damages is paid to the innocent.
Also like any other Trustee should also see their credibility destroyed and not be allowed to hold any office of responsibility.
This man is obfuscting to dodge a direct question. Just like all the hierarchy. When truth is discovered, prison must be considered.
Well, what’s done is done! Nothing is ever going to change that! Just hope now all victims are properly compensated financially and all appropriate people that need to be jailed are! But unfortunately, I wouldn’t expect much on that one!
Lying thru their teeth simply to protect themselves
You don't ask a question when you don't want to know the answer! The PO know that whatever date they admit that they knew remote access was possible it lays them open to malicious prosecution for all cases after that date of sub-postmasters for fraud & false accounting.
They are still try to avoid responsibility for their cover-up.
He won't incriminate himself 😮
The most important question was when did the post office know the Fujitsu was bad after 4 years he didn't bother to find out the answer that just shows you the content of this post office
They were all in on it …including these politicians who are pretending they care ……whatever.
I agree, and these people asking the questions should have done it twenty years ago or did they not know anything about this scandal until they saw the TV programme. I think not.
Absolutely - remember TB seeking assurances on 9 dec 1998 about horizon and Mandy that well known tech expert reporting back to him next day saying all was well - joke really
Make him come back with all the answers
it's the labour mp who left the infamous note stating there's no money left
No excuse is acceptable. Liars exist in every country. Fujitsu has its share and made a huge problem for the U.K. post office. Now Fujitsu must pay for its evil by paying compensation of at least £1 million for each victim of its very own Horizon software. That will come to about one billion pounds sterling, payable now. The post office must be scrapped and replaced. No previous Po corporate manager ever accepted to work in the new Po.
None of them at the top of the post office or jujitsu will do no jail time over this! One law for us mugs another law for them at the top to do what ever they want!
25, year's jail for post office, and Fujitsu, nevermind courts, their all guilty as sin, jail them now.
Modern day Highwaymen and Women... how times have change. Well dressed, educated and wealthy with a predisposition to lying their way out of any situation. Would make an excellent Politician, as their number one skill seems to be avoiding anything that resembles a question.
"Surprised and disappointed" that an answer wasn't provided, after 4 years in the role - that has to be the mother of all understatements !!
Mr Read talks and doesn’t say anything. Quite a talent
It's a skill that many at "the top of the tree skillfully acquire. I know, I worked for one.
What a contrast between his weasel answers & the more forthright response of the Fujistu witness.
Wow this guy should be jailed - 4 years and deflects the answer
Surely this is obstruction from Mr Reed? Why aren’t these people charged? This is a shameful performance: is he a fool or flagrantly dishonest?
this is unbelievable, they are still trying to cover it up!!!
PO should give them back the money they were bullied into paying. Then negotiate a Compensation Plan. After they have had their Court Costs paid by the Government
Read this is totally unacceptable. You cannot even answer a simple question after 4 years in the job. Please remove yourself and leave all your bonus in the building.
He’s been there 4 years. Come on, cut him some slack! 😂😂
this is no longer about the Fujitsu IT system.... this is now about how the senior post office staff lied and lied... and in unison ....
Of course he hasn't got the answer. The Post Office never cared about this issue at the time, and they're proving how little they care about it now. I hope this is their undoing
they need to be shamed and never trusted again
Thumbs UP if you think he knows the date, thumbs DOWN if you think after 4 YEARS in his job he still doesn't know?
Outrageous that he doesn’t know the answer. The only reason possible for him not knowing is because he doesn’t want to know.
He must be sacked for not knowing.
I don’t think we can move on from this until the real crooks do jail time & are forced to hand back all bonus related to this crime. If it makes them bankrupt so be it
Lie, lie, lie, BS, BS, lie.
Another squirming post office liar, pretending not to know something because admitting that he DID know would damn him.
Total incompetence. This exposes the fact that the wrong people are in the wrong jobs and work under a different set of rules
He can remember facts and numbers when he want,s too........
Read has not been providing Sir Win Williams with the information required. This has been a major issue at the enquiry. Read you did not answer and tried to distract the questions
Come on Nick show a backbone if you have one.
It is staggering how these people at the top just lie and bluster. Perhaps they need a time in jail to reflect on their moral compass
Boycott the post office.
So that the last vestiges of the publicly owned post office goes bankrupt and the entire system gets privatized.
....
You think that's a good idea?
@@AspenDarkfire Yes.
@@rd123.
You do understand that it was the part of the post office that was privatized that conducted this scandal.?
And you want to give the entire post office over to those kind of people 🤨
@@AspenDarkfire Don’t care. I’m not going to use the post office
The question of remote access for PO would have been a fundamental requirement when Horizon was first commissioned. Lies.
the lies to Iraq and Afghanastan , the frivilous brushing aside to the horror and misery caused,
this is a walk in the park for all and rest not known!;
After hearing the Fugitsu manager speak, these guys are really showing their true colors, corrupt, incompetent and 100% uncaring of whos lives they destroy. Sick bunch of sociopaths.
Yeah, but they keep the shareholders happy, and their own rmuneration is enormous so everything's peachy for them.
I think I would have asked Mr Read whether or not he held this committee to the same standing and degree of respect as he held the inquiry to which he was going to provide the answer to this and other questions
This was such a simple and fundamental question of when the Post office first became aware of the Horizon glitch. I was stunned to put it nicely that the current CEO could not answer that question. It was plain to see this person was doing everything possible to not answer that question. He knows surely an answer to the effect of "to date we have chased that date to 2010 but we are still investigating in an attempt for a more accurate date" would have been a minimum. These people have learnt nothing and should be stood down immediately if they are not up to the task.
He has the answer, he just won’t provide it. Disgraceful!!!
He new the date, if he’s that incompetent he shouldn’t be in the job. 😡😡
These people need to be put under oath so if they are found lying they face perjury charges aswell..
Dont get this at all..... remote access was either a post office requirement (as mentioned by someone else) or it was not and a defect. If it was a requirement it would have been tested by both fujitsu and the Post Office test teams and signed off - if it wasnt a requirement and therefore a defect then it should have been tested by both Fujitu and Post Office test teams to ensure it wasnt there and again, signed off - I would add that unrequested remote access would be a fundamental test in both of these organisation's security testing. This is basic software testing and basic software delivery (I have been a test manager for over 25 years for a number of organisations but not these thankfully). Somewhere in these organisations there may still be requirements catalogues, defect management systems (with historic records), project sign off artefacts....
Easy from day one.. all similar systems have remote access for it support
What's fundamental to your question, is we don't want to answer as we'll be actually accountable.
It's a normal/standard for large networks to have remote access. This has been known over many years.
Sounds like this entire shambolic deed was plotted from the very beginning
Is he related to Boris the old Sue Grey line he knows already
I could use that CEO for fishing.. the slippery worm!
Is there an alternative to the post office?
Sickening and shameful response Of course he knows Hasn't got the courage to admit it
Dear me, well I wonder what else he's been kept in the dark over, the big boss.......
Every single inquiry, these massively-paid 'Captains-of-Industry' can't answer a single, simple question or pass the buck to their 'subordinates'. It's almost as if they're superfluous to the running of their businesses. I once knew of a Record Company A&R guy who rose through the ranks to make it to executive level. He did that by not making any mistakes. He never made any mistakes because he never actually signed anyone to his label, Oh, and he got the job in the first place because his father was 'Sir' someone who frequented the same club as the CEO. It's no wonder growth has been stagnant for the last 14 years when you look at the standard of British management - from the PM down.
We are, and always have been Lions led by Donkeys
Another joker totally unprepared for a committee hearing - Duh! Read him and weep. Meanwhile, what is that almost incessant tapping … someone breaking in to Fujitsu?
They are angry at the wrong person. They need to get that awful woman to answer the questions.
He is blatantly lying. He knows the truth
Shocking. I wouldn't trust him to tell me the time. He's deliberately avoiding answering the questions 😢
This chap must be the most feeble excuse for a chief executive in the history of hopeless CEOs. The clue is in the title, he is the most senior executive. To be in such a post for 4 years, during which time it was known Horizon had flaws and to suggest at no point in those 4 years did he seek clarification as to when remote access was possible is just laughable. He either does know when remore access was recognised to be possible (in which case he is lying in this interview), or he really doesn’t know because it has never occured to him to find out. If the latter, he is simply not director material. The roles and responsibilities of company directors are very clear and ignorance does not appear in the job spec. Either way, I wouldnt put him in charge of the tea trolley.
And the Post Office boss is still trying to squirm his way out of the situation, same as the previous bosses such as Paula Vennells. They obviously knew there were problems from the first moments the system was deployed, if not before it was deployed. I expect that Fujitsu, the Post Office and the Labour government of the day were well-aware that the system was flawed, but thought that they could work through any issues and didn't realise the extent of the problems it would cause. They basically closed their eyes to the situation in the vain hope it would go away....wrong.
On IT systems of this size, are we supposed to believe programmers winged it? Of course not. There will have been requirements documents, business design documents, detailed analysis, computer system design documents, program specifications, testing schedules... In short, remote access will have been part of the design based upon requirements. Either the Post Office requested it, or Fujitsu did it under their own bat (which would be highly suspect).
It is beyond belief that nobody knew at outset.
He answered the questions like a tory mp
It's inconceivable that any system such as this is constructed without a remote access capability !
It's all one being able to access the system for auditing and such, but to edit the figures is a whole different ball game.
@@PYDPIPER I agree and that's down to separations of concerns and responsibilities in design e.g it support Vs data administrators Vs auditors and the controls around them
How can they play with peoples lives they are not human 😱