Post Office: SRA and BSB liaising with each other
Both solicitors and barristers involved in the Post Office scandal could start to face disciplinary action by this summer, their regulators have declared.
An update from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said solicitors could also be prosecuted over their co-operation with the statutory inquiry run by Sir Wyn Williams.
The SRA has been running more than 20 investigations into solicitors and law firms who worked on behalf of the Post Office/Royal Mail Group.
The issues include: their management and supervision of cases, and the conduct of prosecutions and of litigation; duties relating to expert witnesses; disclosure obligations and improper application of privilege; and operation of the Post Office complaint review and mediation scheme, including overcharging claimants, use of non-disclosure-agreements and labelling of correspondence.
“We also are looking at the conduct of solicitors in relation to their engagement and cooperation with the public inquiry,” the SRA said.
Now that the inquiry has finished hearing evidence, “we are liaising closely with it to collect all relevant evidence, and with the police to understand what, if any action they might take.
“We will, of course, take action as soon as we can, and while we can’t confirm the exact timeline, we are hopeful that we can launch prosecution action in some cases in the summer of this year.”
SRA chief executive Paul Philip added: “Although the range of issues we are investigating is complex, the fundamentals are simple. The public expect solicitors to behave ethically. They must act independently and do the right thing in the interests of justice.
“We will take action where we find they have failed to do so. This is vital to protect the public, maintain trust in the profession, and send a clear message that any solicitor behaving unethically should expect serious consequences.
“We will act as swiftly as we can, but it is important that we get this right. We owe that to everyone impacted in this case and the wider public.”
The Bar Standards Board (BSB), meanwhile, said its dedicated team assessing the evidence was “liaising closely” with its SRA counterpart.
“We are likely to move forward with regulatory action in a number of cases in the next few months with a view to starting to put cases in front of our Independent Decision-Making Body in the summer for decisions on whether disciplinary action is warranted.”
Both the SRA and BSB said the evidence to date did not indicate an ongoing risk on the part of someone they regulated such that immediate action was necessary.
This is very welcome. However, my wife and I have our reservations. We were convicted in 2000 after a trial at the Woolwich Crown Court prosecuted by the Post Office. We know that we are not guilty, though we did not know by then that our Post Office branch had RELEASE 1B software of the Horizon System installed in 1997 under the Pilot scheme of the Horizon System. The witness statements and Fujitsu final Phase Two submissions confirmed this fact at the Post Office IT Inquiry. In spite of this, the Post Office, through its firm of Solicitors, Peters & Peters, continue to deny this. We are at a loss as to how we can correct this dilemma! Thank you