A SENIOR Post Office executive has been recorded on tape saying postmasters prosecuted during the Horizon IT scandal "downright stole" the money.
Chief spin doctor Richard Taylor said some ransacked cash to fund their businesses, according to an investigation by TalkTV.
Nick Wallis - a journalist who has spent 15 years investigating the scandal - tonight revealed the tapes on TalkTV's PrimeTime.
In conversations recorded in 2020 and 2021, Mr Taylor is heard saying: "You go ‘Oh I’d like to run a post office’ and we go, ‘Wahey’, and we say, ‘Here, have a nice big red sign outside your door, and here, have a counter, and here, have some scales, and here…
"And the main stuff which we give you is 30,000 pounds in cash to stick in a safe.
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"And the problem with 30,000 pounds in cash in a safe is if you’ve got 11 and a half thousand post officers is some of those people decide to… not necessarily with any particular intent… to borrow that money for a little while… well some of them downright stole it."
Between 1999 and 2015, The Post Office prosecuted 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses after the faulty Horizon IT system made it look like money was missing from their branches.
A further 283 cases were brought by other bodies including the Crown Prosecution Service.
Many were jailed, four committed suicide and 33 have since died in a scandal brought back into the spotlight following the ITV dramatisation Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The scandal is currently being investigated as part of the Government's Horizon IT Inquiry.
In the recordings, Mr Taylor admits that some postmasters had been "hard done by" amid the scandal but insists that others were guilty.
He even says some used the money to pay for stock for their shops at the local cash and carry.
Mr Taylor, the current Group Corporate Affairs, Communications & Brand Director, adds: "The problem is they’re all grouped together.
"There are probably some people for whom they have been hard done by.
"But some other people stole the money. I mean It’s never been proven that there was a link between the computer glitch and anybody actually losing money."
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In another clip, he says the convictions: “Okay, on the scorecard. So far it’s 72 overturned convictions, three upheld and 20 appeals withdrawn… in broadest terms it’s currently at 72/73 so you know it’s three to one, but it’s not everybody.”
After a 20 years, campaigners won a legal battle to have their cases reconsidered.
But since then, just 93 out of more than 700 Post Office convictions have so far been overturned.
Rishi Sunak this week said a new law will be introduced to make sure those wrongly convicted are "swiftly exonerated and compensated".
He also announced an "upfront payment" of £75,000 which will be made available to hundreds of postmasters.
Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells handed back her CBE on Tuesday "with immediate effect" after more than one million people signed a petition.
Mr Taylor - a former Labour adviser - was brought in as Director of Communications in 2020 to help clean up the Post Office's reputation and handle the public fallout from the scandal.
But the tapes reveal that even as late as 2021 the Post Office still privately saw some postmasters as thieves.
Nick Wallis told TalkTV tonight that long after Horizon IT systems were proven faulty Mr Taylor was still "smearing" innocent postmasters with "guilt"
He added: “If I worked for a company responsible for putting a single innocent person in prison I would be ashamed and appalled.
"These tapes suggest the Post Office hasn’t changed much from when it was actively denying and covering up the largest miscarriage of justice in British history."
Nicki Arch, who was falsely accused by the Post Office, and later exonerated, branded Mr Taylor's comments "absolutely disgusting".
She added: “It’s typical Post Office. I should be shocked. I'm not. Typical arrogant ignorance. How these people get the jobs they do on the salaries they do, I just don't know."
In a statement issued to TalkTV, Richard Taylor said: “I am deeply sorry about the terrible impact of this scandal on victims and have consistently apologised for all they have suffered.
"I sincerely apologise for any past remarks that I may have made during personal conversations which cause hurt or offence.”
Following Richard Taylor’s apology, Nicki said: “I think that's just an absolute load of rubbish. It’s too little too late.”