‘Why is the Post Office able to bring criminal prosecutions?'
South End Green postmasters' lives were destroyed by 'Horizon' scandal
Friday, 19th January — By Tom Foot
Kamran Ashraf and Siema Kamran spoke to the New Journal this week
THE picturesque parade of independent shops in South End Green, flanked by Hampstead Heath and Keats House, holds nothing but bad memories for a couple whose lives were torn apart by the Post Office scandal.
Kamran Ashraf told the New Journal this week how he couldn’t bring himself to go back to the area where he and his wife Siema Kamran started out on what they felt was a “perfect” life together just over 20 years ago.
The couple, who ran the post office in South End Road in 2001-2004, are yet to recover from the ordeal that saw Mr Ashraf sentenced to nine months in prison.
He was prosecuted by the Post Office over £25,000 that mysteriously went missing from his business’s account in a scandalous conviction – he was told at the time he would avoid prison if he pleaded guilty – that ended up being quashed in the Southwark Crown Court in 2020.
Years later bug-ridden Horizon software, introduced by the company Fujitsu, was found to have wrongly recorded short- falls from individual branches.
More than 900 other sub-postmasters across the country were prosecuted for money they had not stolen in what has been described as the “biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history”.
The couple this week called for reform of the legal system and for the Post Office to be stripped of its powers to bring criminal prosecutions against its employees.
Mr Ashraf, 46, said: “When the money went missing and we started calling up to find out what was going on they were saying we were the ‘only one’.
“Thinking I was the only one, it made me paranoid.
“It made me think twice about doing even the simple things that I had done quite comfortably in the past, like counting money, [and] using basic IT systems.
“I started doubting people. Even today, I struggle with trust. I have problems making new friends, working with people, building relationships.
“We were completely abandoned by an organisation that we trusted. And so there was a massive feel- ing of abandonment.”
Mr Ashraf, who is in treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, said he was put on anti-depressants and was having panic attacks when he was in prison, adding: “By the time I was released on tag, we had lost our business and the locks had been changed.
“We did not receive a single penny for it. We had lost our original investment as well as thousands of pounds we had put in due to the shortfalls.
“A few months later our family home was repossessed.”
He added: “We had had a clear vision: get a business, put in the hours and lead a comfortable life later on.
“So everything was so perfect when we took over.
“We had bought the family home and the post office, and we felt like we had achieved our goals.
“It’s a lovely place, a lovely area – like a little village, and we loved our neighbours and customers.
“But it is where all of this began for us and so I know for a fact I am not able to go to that area again.”
The site of the former Post Office in South End Road
The government has finally been forced to make a meaningful response to the scandal – that affected hundreds of people across the country – following the smash hit ITV series, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
The show focused on the human stories while also using accounts from real-life transcripts in the long-running case.
This week Fujitsu’s top boss for the first time made a public apology over the scandal, and suggested his company had a “moral obligation” to pay out compensation.
Mr Ashraf said: “He feels they have a moral obligation. When it comes to the Post Office, that’s what I feel they lack massively.
“You can feel the emptiness of their words, it’s all very hollow and meaningless, insincere.
“They come on TV and release the statements saying the right things, but behind the scenes they are still aggressively litigating against our claims.”
Mr Ashraf has already received around £200,000 compensation but is yet to submit a full claim. He – like hundreds of others – is owed much more.
He questioned whether the Post Office, given its failings, should remain in charge of administering compensation and also why they are able of bringing their own criminal prosecutions.
The government plans to overturn the convictions of more than 900 people linked to the scandal, with more 4,000 being told they are eligible for compensation for their suffering.
This week Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said a new law would be introduced so people wrongly convicted in the scandal are “swiftly exonerated and compensation”.
Mr Ashraf said: “One of the main problems we have gone through in all of this is that the Post Office was in control of everything.
“They did the audits, they did the investigation. They were taking money and recovering the money, like debt collectors.
“They prosecuted us. At no stage was anyone else involved – no CPS, no police.
“There were no checks in place and they took us to court without any evidence.
“If we had stolen the money, where was the money? Had it been through the CPS, would any of this have been possible?
“It is one of the most important things for me: that they should not be allowed to prosecute in the future.”
Mr Ashraf and Ms Kamran, 48, also spoke about the unfairness of a legal system where massive firms like the Post Office are able to splash eye-watering sums fighting lengthy battles in the courts.
Ms Kamran added: “The real winners in this are the lawyers. They are making millions of
pounds. The longer it goes on the more money they gets. A lot of people are benefiting from all of this. All these people, except us.”
Mr Ashraf said: “Can you imagine if the Post Office’s legal cost was capped?
“Ours was, because we didn’t have any money.
“It is bullying behaviour, trying to shut people down through bottomless pockets.
“There is no equal footing. There is no fairness in the legal system.
“Of course you will get miscarriages of justice if both parties are not on the same legal footing. One party always had the upper hand.
“You know, when I look around I see how many scandals there are.
“Hillsborough. The contaminated blood. Covid. Windrush. Grenfell. It’s just never-ending.
“There have been so many inquiries and committee hearings, but what have they actually achieved? What are we actually learning as a society?”
An inquiry is taking place.
Yesterday (Wednesday) Nick Read, the chief executive of the Post Office, said the organisation had been in a “culture of denial” when he joined in 2019.
He said the company, which is private but state- owned, was committed to “get off Horizon”, which still runs Post Office sys- tems and is scheduled to do so until 2025 after contract extensions.