Mike Young - who ran computer systems for the Post Office from 2008 to 2012 - was finally tracked down by The Record's sister paper.
The former Post Office IT chief that the inquiry into the Horizon scandal insisted could not be found has spoken out after being tracked down by our sister publication the Mirror.
Mr Young ran computer systems for the Post Office from 2008 to 2012, during which time some postmasters were wrongly prosecuted for stealing. On May 30 campaigning subpostmaster Alan Bates said he was taken aback by Mr Young’s comments and explained: “They are all passing the buck.” Mr Young has been working for a taxpayer-funded research project run by the University of Exeter’s business school.Mr Young, the Post Office’s Chief Operating Officer, added: “I’ve spoken to the inquiry well before last week. The back office doesn’t know what the front office has done. I’ve reached out.
Fujitsu, the computer giant behind the Horizon system, had remote access to records – despite the Post Office claiming branch accounts could not be accessed that way. Second Sight, appointed to review Horizon, said in a July 2013 interim report the Post Office had “disclosed… that, in 2011 and 2012, it had found ‘defects’ in Horizon online”.
“The back door wasn’t found until, what, June 2013 when Second Sight made its interim report to Paula and the board or certainly to Paula and Susan Crichton .” In a written evidence submission to the inquiry dated March 8, Ms Vennells made reference to a 2009 article in Computer Weekly about Horizon. She said: “Mike told us the article was critical of Horizon.
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