Britain: Rishi Sunak pledges action over post office scandal impacting Indian-origin citizens

The government is examining the compensation procedure in an accounting scam that falsely accused hundreds of sub-postmasters, many of whom were of Indian descent, of fraud, according to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday.

In response to questions about the historic scandal involving a malfunctioning IT system named Horizon that dates back to the late 1990s, Sunak said in an interview with the British media that his minister of justice is “looking at” ways to expedite the process of reversing erroneous convictions and paying compensation.

Many of the affected sub-postmasters have received millions in compensation from the government, which officially controls Post Office Ltd., but many more are still waiting years for payments.

“Obviously it’s something that happened in the ’90s but actually seeing it and hearing about it again just shows what an appalling miscarriage of justice it is for everyone affected and it’s important that those people now get the justice they deserve, and that’s what the compensation schemes are about,” Sunak said.

“The government has paid out about GBP 150 million to thousands of people already. Of course, we want to get the money to the people as quickly as possible, that’s why there are interim payments of up to, I think, GBP 600,000 that can be made. There are three different schemes available and for anyone affected, they should come forward,” he added.

This month’s UK broadcast of the brutally realistic ITV drama series “Mr. Bates Vs. The Post Office” pushed the topic back into the public eye. Shortly after, the Metropolitan Police announced that it is looking into possible fraud offenses at the Post Office.

Now, dozens more sub-postmasters affected by the flawed accounting system have sought legal assistance, bringing the total number affected by the scandal to almost 700. The case of Seema Biswas, a 47-year-old British Indian sub-postmaster, and Vijay Parekh, two of the 39 people who won a Court of Appeal appeal together, first came to light in April 2021.

(With agency inputs)