UK PM Rishi Sunak pledges action over Post Office scandal impacting many British Indians

London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday said that the government is reviewing the compensation process in an accounting scandal that wrongly accused hundreds of sub-postmasters of fraud, many of them of Indian heritage.

During an interview with the BBC, Sunak was asked about the historic scandal involving a faulty IT system named Horizon dating back to the late 1990s and confirmed that his justice minister is “looking at” how the process of overturning wrongful convictions and providing compensations can be speeded up.

The government, which formally owns Post Office Ltd, has paid out millions in compensation to many of the sub-postmasters impacted but there are many others still waiting for years.

“Obviously it’s something that happened in the ‘90s but actually seeing it and hearing about it again just shows what an appalling miscarriage of justice it is for everyone affected and it’s important that those people now get the justice they deserve, and that’s what the compensation schemes are about,” said Sunak.

“The government has paid out about GBP 150 million to thousands of people already. Of course, we want to get the money to the people as quickly as possible, that’s why there are interim payments of up to, I think, GBP 600,000 that can be made. There are three different schemes available and for anyone affected, they should come forward,” he said.