[UPDATE] Post Office Horizon Controversy: Rishi Sunak Announces Emergency Legislation To Exonerate Victims

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled unprecedented emergency legislation that would exonerate the victims of the Post Office Horizon controversy, which has impacted hundreds of people who were wrongfully convicted of criminal charges.

The development comes after years of legal challenges and delays and has Sunak being spurred into action by an ITV drama on the issue. The show, which was aired only last week, had the prime minister promising to rush forward primary legislation to end the convictions en masse.

Post Office Horizon Scandal

The official also vowed to deliver what he called "justice and compensation" for the more than 700 people who were convicted between 2000 and 2014 of theft or false accounting. These charges were made using flawed data from Fujitsu's Horizon software.

Downing Street noted that the emergency legislation would be introduced "within weeks" and added that exonerations delivered by year-end. The efforts could finally address what the prime minister called "one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history," as per the Financial Times.

Sunak noted that they will make sure that the truth comes to light in order to rewrite the wrongs that were done in the past. The prime minister also pledged an "upfront payment" of roughly $95,000 for 555 sub-postmasters pursued in civil cases by the Post Office.

The group brought a landmark 2019 case that established accounting shortfalls alleged by the Post Office were based on inaccurate data given by the Horizon software. The compensation of at least $764,000 had previously been offered to every sub-postmaster whose conviction for theft or false accounting was overturned.

In December last year, MPs and members of the government-appointed Horizon Compensation Advisory Board had urged the government to move forward with a blanket exoneration. The chair of the board, Christopher Hodges said that he supports the government's announcement.

Faulty Horizon Software

Postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake added that hundreds of people fell victim to a "brutal and arbitrary exercise of power." Over 16 years, there were more than 900 convictions that were linked to the Post Office Horizon scandal, according to BBC.

Despite the high number of cases, only 93 of the convictions have since been overturned. From 1999 to 2015, the Post Office prosecuted hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses based on the fault Horizon IT system.

Alan Bates, a former sub-postmaster, said that the latest development is "another positive step forward." However, he argued that "the devil is in the detail, and we've yet to see that." Sunak told the House of Commons that the people who were previously convicted in England and Wales would be cleared of wrongdoing and compensated under a new law.

The news comes as in the more than 20-year scandal, some postal workers were sent to prison while others lost their livelihoods and homes. In 2015, Post Office chief Paula Vennells told a parliamentary committee that there was no evidence of any miscarriage of justice.

Her remarks came amid mounting pressure from the media and lawmakers after Computer Weekly in 2009 reported the claims of flaws with the Horizon software. In 2019, the company agreed to settle claims made by 555 sub-postmasters, said Reuters.

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