From 22 May 2024Key events22 May 2024How the inquiry hearing works …22 May 2024Paula Vennells: key questions the ex-Post Office boss must answer22 May 2024Welcome and opening summary …Filters BETAKey events (3)Paula Vennells (3)Ex-Post Office (3)22 May 202403.57 EDTHow the inquiry hearing works …
We can expect today that Paula Vennells, the former CEO of the Post Office, will be sworn in under oath, and then will be presented with a physical copy of the written witness statement she has presented to the inquiry.
She will be given an opportunity to make any changes to it. Sometimes a witness will note small typographical changes. On other occasions witnesses add, delete or correct elements because subsequent written or oral testimony at the inquiry has changed their testimony or revealed new details. Witnesses are also sometimes given the opportunity to make an opening statement to the inquiry.
Vennells will then most likely be questioned by lead counsel for the inquiry, Jason Beer KC, who will take her through the written testimony, and use other documents and testimony to ask for clarification. The chair, retired judge Wyn Williams, may also intercede at points to seek clarification or pose his own questions.
View image in fullscreenA file photo of Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chair Wyn Williams. Photograph: Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry/PA
When the counsel to the inquiry has finished questioning Vennells, “core particpants” are then also able to put a series of questions to her. These are barristers and lawyers representing various parties connected to the inquiry, including subpostmasters who served prison sentences during the scandal, former Fujitsu employee Gareth Jenkins, and a team specifically representing Scottish subpostmasters, where prosecutions fell under a separate judicial framework. Those questions tend to be very adversarial.
Vennells is scheduled to appear for three days, and so core participants are unlikely to be able to put questions to Vennells until Friday. Her witness statement will be published on the inquiry website and will be available here.
Share22 May 202403.54 EDTPaula Vennells: key questions the ex-Post Office boss must answerJane Croft
Yesterday my colleague Jane Croft put together an explainer on the questions that Paula Vennells must answer:
Why did she wrongly tell MPs in 2012 the Post Office had not lost a Horizon case?
Vennells met six MPs in 2012. A note of meeting showed Vennells told those present: “Every case taken to prosecution that involves the Horizon system thus far has found in favour of the Post Office”. Jason Beer KC, counsel to the inquiry, told the hearings this claim simply was “not true” as at that time there had been three acquittals.
Why did the Post Office not disclose legal advice in 2013 highlighting problems with past prosecutions?
In July 2013, Simon Clarke, a barrister advising the Post Office, concluded there was a serious problem with past prosecutions because of an…
2024-05-22 02:54:46
Article from www.theguardian.com