In a swift move, the British Government announced that it would bring in a new law that will ensure those who were convicted wrongly in the Post Office Horizon scandal a swift exoneration and compensation.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak while proposing the primary legislation said that the Horizon scandal was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the UK history. He was addressing the prime minister’s questions of the year.
According to reports, the UK government announced an “upfront payment” of £75,000 to the convicted postmasters. However, no information was provided about in what form or on what timetable the new bill will be presented.
In 2019, a group of 555 sub-postmasters pursued civil cases in a landmark legal action, contending that they were compelled to cover account discrepancies arising from flawed data, according to a Financial Times report.
“We will make sure the truth comes to light, rewrite the wrongs of the past,” said PM Sunak.
The government has compensated £600,000 to every sub-postmaster whose conviction for theft or false accounting was overturned. To date, only 93 convictions have been quashed.
The decision came after the government faced immense pressure to take action on the Horizon scandal after the airing of the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office last week.
Over 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses have faced prosecution for accounting mistakes, due to technical inaccuracies originating from the flawed Horizon software.
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