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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Jane Croft and Ben Quinn

Post Office was urged by external lawyers to ‘suppress’ key document, inquiry hears

Post Office logo
Hundreds of post office operators were pursued and prosecuted over alleged financial shortfalls in their branch accounts. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Rex/Shutterstock

The Post Office was urged by its external law firm to “try and suppress” disclosure of a key document for “as long as possible” as branch owner-operators tried to mount legal action against the state-owned postal company, a public inquiry has heard.

Rodric Williams, a senior in-house lawyer at the Post Office giving evidence to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, was asked about an email sent to him in which it was suggested that his employer should withhold disclosing its investigation guidelines as they could harm its defence to a lawsuit brought by post office operators.

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