Sir Ed Davey says that information given to him by Paula Vennells and David Smith was 'not true', suggesting he may have been 'lied to' by Senior Post Office executives.
Sir Ed Davey has today made a grovelling apology to the subpostmasters and subpostmistresses whose lives were ruined in the Horizon scandal.
The Horizon scandal is widely considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice after more than 700 subpostmasters were wrongly convicted when dodgy Fujitsu software showed shortfalls incorrectly reported on their accounts. Sir Ed has been heavily criticised for his role in the scandal while victims accused him of distancing himself from the catastrophe with his daft election campaign antics.
'As one of the ministers over the 20 years of this scandal who had postal affairs as part of my ministerial responsibilities, I am sorry that it took me five months to meet Sir Alan Bates, the man who has done so much to uncover all this, and that I did not see through the Post Office's lies when I and my officials raised his concerns with them.
But in his reply the political leader shrugged him off and said: 'I do not believe a meeting would serve any useful purpose.' Sir Ed continued: 'As far as I can remember, that briefing - long after the meeting had been arranged - was the first time that 'presentational reasons' for the meeting were mentioned to me.'As set out above, I told officials I wanted to meet him because I could see he was cross at my initial response and wanted to hear his concerns directly.'
There were groans in the public gallery as Sir Ed claimed he did not remember reading Sir Alan's first letter requesting a meeting. 'If I had known about it I would have been surprised... It seems quite an old fashioned thing to do,' he told the inquiry. Mr McFadden instead said it was worth considering the implementation of an independent body 'that can be called in to launch an inquiry or take action when the level of allegations reaches such a point that it looks like that is the right thing to do'.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Davey: Officials who lied over Horizon scandal ‘will have to go to prison’The Lib Dem leader said he was ‘lied to’ while consumer affairs minister in the coalition government.
Read more »
Davey: Officials who lied over Horizon scandal ‘will have to go to prison’The Lib Dem leader said he was ‘lied to’ while consumer affairs minister in the coalition government.
Read more »
On-board the Lib Dem battle bus where Sir Ed Davey is planning more stuntsIn the final five days of campaigning the party leader is travelling from John O’ Groats, the very top of mainland Britain, to Land’s End, in Cornwall.
Read more »
In Pictures: Rishi Sunak defiant as Sir Ed Davey back on the waterLib Dems leader Sir Ed Davey once again took to the water to promote his party’s message for the July 4 election.
Read more »
In Pictures: Rishi Sunak defiant as Sir Ed Davey back on the waterLib Dems leader Sir Ed Davey once again took to the water to promote his party’s message for the July 4 election.
Read more »
Sir Ed Davey aims for poll bounce with General Election bungee jumpThe Liberal Democrat leader urged voters to ‘take a leap of faith’ and back his party on July 4.
Read more »