The chief executive of La Poste has been forced to repay part of his bonus after the group was accused of ‘misleading’ an investigation into the sub-postman’s computer scandal.
Nick Read and other senior executives received part of their bonus for supporting an investigation led by Sir Wyn Williams into the Post Office’s faulty Horizon computer system, which resulted in the wrongful conviction of 700 postal workers for theft of ‘money.
However, Williams said he did not approve the bounty payment, even though the Post Office said he received “confirmation” from him that the group was “supporting and allowing the investigation to complete as expected.” Williams said in a statement that it was “misleading and inaccurate.”
The Post Office said Read would return an unspecified part of the £455,000 awarded to him in bonuses in 2021-22. The board is still in discussions with other senior management recipients about their bonuses.
“We have apologized to Sir Wyn Williams for the implication in the Post Office’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2021-22 that the remuneration sub-measure and its achievement was agreed with him and the enquiry”, said the post.
The Department of Business and Commerce, which oversees the public post office, said: ‘The post office is right to apologise. The government is keen to hear what action the Postal Board plans to take on this matter.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted for theft between 2000 and 2013 following failures in the Horizon computer system. In 2021, the Court of Appeal overturned the criminal convictions of 83 people, but the compensation award process to those affected has been slow.
MPs called the scandal one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in recent judicial history.
“I am troubled by the suggestion that bonuses were awarded to senior executives based on inaccuracies,” said Darren Jones, chairman of the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee. “This once again raises serious questions of corporate governance at La Poste, in particular for the remuneration committee.”
Inquiry lawyers wrote to the Post Office in March expressing concern over the executives’ performance clause, which stated that a portion of their bonuses would be paid for providing all the ‘evidence and information’ necessary to enable to the Horizon IT survey of “ending online”. with expectations.
Bonuses based on the clause were agreed in February 2022 and paid in March 2022, according to the Post Office’s annual report, although the investigation was only in its first phase of hearings.
La Poste’s lawyers responded to the inquest’s legal team in a letter in April stating that the sub-clause had been erroneously marked as “fulfilled”.
Dan Neidle, a former tax executive at law firm Clifford Chance and founder of the Tax Policy Associates think tank, said he “can’t remember another example of a CEO receiving a bonus for something that doesn’t had not happened”.
The Post Office’s investigation is now in its third phase, which involves collecting evidence about the operation of the Horizon system. There are four phases remaining and the investigation is not expected to be completed until 2024.
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