A FORMER Post Office chief claims he did not know the organisation itself was taking its own sub-postmasters to court.
Ex-managing director Alan Cook told the Horizon inquiry he had not heard anything to suggest it was able to act as a prosecuting authority.
But former Royal Mail Group chief Adam Crozier expressed “surprise” over the claims, adding: “He certainly always gave the impression of someone who was very much in control of his brief.”
Mr Cook, boss from 2006-2010, said he asked no questions on the matter until he saw a Computer Weekly article in May 2009.
He told the inquiry he did not ask questions on the matter until he saw an article in Computer Weekly in May 2009.
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Mr Cook also denied asking for a “more robust defence of Horizon” despite an email from a Post Office investigator saying that is what he had asked for.
Former chief executive Mr Crozier accepted that sub-postmasters should not have been treated like “they were on the take”.
Asked if there should have been assumptions “they were on the take, or some of them were on the take”, Mr Crozier said: “No, I think some of the language I’ve heard over the last few weeks is deplorable.”
More than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted as Fujitsu’s Horizon system made it appear cash was missing.
Campaigner Alan Bates is now pledging to raise funds to prosecute Post Office bosses privately if the authorities “fail us”.
The Post Office has come under fire since the broadcast of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which put the Horizon scandal under the spotlight.