More "fun and games" on the #PostOffice board of directors

Thanks to #Tim McCormack for pointing out a new non-executive director has just been appointed to #PostOfficeLimited He is #SimonJeffreys. According to his #LinkedIn profile, he sits on numerous boards. Among other roles, he chairs the Board of St James Place International plc and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committees of Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust plc, SimCorp A/S, a listed Danish financial services software company. “ Quite remarkably“ in yet another role, he chairs the audit and risk committee of #CrownProsecutionService (CPS). That is why I thought his appointment needed this little note. However, no one I have mentioned this to is at all surprised. “Jobs for the boys” is one comment and “ isn’t he conflicted “ another. Of all the people it could have recruited, Post Office presumably, (or maybe a Minister ) has chosen someone still in a very senior role at the CPS, (the state prosecution service) to sit on the board of a government owned company which through some or all of its directors , senior executives and legal teams over the years, initiated and carried out perhaps the largest miscarriage of justice in English legal history.

Some might suggest that nearly two years after the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of 39 sub postmasters, any such appointment is rather late. No doubt Mr Jeffreys is more aware than most people from his role at CPS , that the #criminaljustice system has been shown to have failed hundreds (perhaps indirectly many thousands) of #subpostmasters. 27 people have died, several have committed suicide. The Post Office has contributed to mental health breakdowns and physical health agonies of hundreds , probably thousands, of people. It has perhaps , made the #PostOffice brand one of the most despised in the country. So many questions for this new board member.

Yet again I’ll make this point on which he might like to reflect —partly because it can never be repeated too often and partly because none of the other board members past / present seem to have done so. As a result of the #PostOffice Scandal people got sick and some died. More will probably get sick, and more will probably die.

Did individual directors/ senior executives at #PostOffice pervert the course of justice? Did they assist in the cover up / non-disclosure of key documents over far more than a decade? Do they care how many more people die? As new chairman of the audit , risk, and compliance committee, it is assumed he will want to understand carefully each of these and so many other matters , as well, perhaps, why #POL has paid out over £100million in legal fees/ expenses over the last few years and failed , I believe , just about every time . He's in for a busy time.

Victims of the Scandal, who are being offered derisory amounts in compensation of their reputations being trashed ( as per the recent #DailyTelegraph piece by #JoePinkstone), might well ask how much he is being paid. Anything more than £10,000 per year would be an insult to each of them.

Alternatively, my approach might be entirely wrong, and he has been appointed because despite a so called ( but not by anyone I know ) wealth of talent on its board , the government as sole shareholder in Post Office decided finally it needs a grown up in there who understand risk and compliance. Time will tell…but time is one thing which is running out for too many victims of #PostOfficeScandal.

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Why have I written this? Because as anyone who reads my pieces knows, I currently assist ( with others ) @JanetSkinner, #TracyFelstead and @SeemaMisra who , between them, waited 44 years for their wrongful convictions to be overturned in April 2021.  Appointing a new head of audit, risk and compliance at this stage does absolutely nothing that I can see to help any of them ( or hundreds of others get full and fair and immediate compensation. Perhaps the new board member would like to think about that as well.