Post Office General Counsel to give evidence after late disclosure of document reported in media

The Post Office’s General Counsel, Ben Foat, will appear before Sir Wyn Williams in an urgent evidence session on the morning of 4 July 2023. 

The Post Office was asked to provide a witness statement after relevant documents listing racial identification coding, and which were referenced in social media and media reporting on 26 - 28 May 2023, were not disclosed to the Inquiry until 30 May 2023. 

The documents had been put into the public domain by Post Office Limited on 19 May 2023 in response to a Freedom of Information request by Eleanor Shaikh and contain information about the Post Office’s guidance for investigators.   

Mr Foat will be questioned on the process by which the Post Office responded to the Inquiry’s relevant prior requests for evidence.  

The substance of the underlying document will be addressed to relevant Phase 4 witnesses at a later stage in the Inquiry’s proceedings. 

Mr Foat’s evidence session will take place before the first Phase 4 witness on 4 July 2023. 

The timetable has been updated here: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/phase-4-hearing-schedule

Ends.