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Post Office inquiry live: Lawyer returns to inquiry for second day of grilling - BBC News | Post Office inquiry live: Lawyer returns to inquiry for second day of grilling - BBC News |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Theo Leggett | |
Business correspondent | |
More | |
difficult questioning for Rodric Williams at the inquiry this morning. | |
To | |
kick off, he was asked what he knew about advice from an external lawyer | |
working for the Post Office that minutes of a conference call may have been | |
destroyed – and potentially shredded. | |
In | |
particular, he was asked – repeatedly – what action he had taken to ensure such | |
an allegation was fully investigated. | |
His | |
initial answer? “I don’t know what you mean by fully investigated.” | |
That | |
led to a tetchy exchange with the inquiry counsel, Jason Beer KC. | |
Beer repeatedly pressed him over whether any investigations had been carried | |
out at all. | |
Williams admitted such allegations should have been investigated, but had they? | |
He didn’t know. | |
Later, | |
attention turned to a Deloitte report on the reliability of the Horizon It | |
system, commissioned by Williams. | |
We | |
were shown an email, in which he told the firm how the Post Office wanted to | |
respond to allegations the system was faulty, and show it was robust and fit | |
for purpose. | |
He | |
was asked whether he was pre-empting the report’s conclusions. | |
His | |
response was that there are many things people want, but they don’t always get | |
them. | |
Beer: “Is that your best answer?” | |
Later, he was asked about his involvement in inaccurate | |
statements being given to the BBC and to the forensic accountants Second Sight | |
about the integrity of Horizon. | |
At the time, the Post Office claimed Horizon could not be | |
remotely accessed – but Beer presented an email and a report which made it | |
clear remote access was possible. | |
Williams admitted he had made a mistake – and that lines | |
prepared for the media were inaccurate. | |
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