Post Office non-exec director under investigation as inquiry restarts

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A Post Office non-executive director is under investigation and has stepped back from the board in the latest blow to the state-owned company just days after its chief executive resigned.

Saf Ismail, one of two sub-postmaster NEDs appointed to the board in 2021 as part of the company’s efforts to recover from the Horizon IT scandal, said on Monday that he was being investigated by the Post Office. He did not elaborate on the details of the probe.

The revelation was made on the first day of the final phase of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, which was established in 2020 to examine how more than 900 sub-postmasters were convicted using faulty data from an IT system.

Ismail confirmed he was under investigation in response to questions from inquiry barrister Julian Blake.

“One issue that we have to deal with is that you are subject to a current investigation by the Post Office, which is not related to Horizon or discrepancies,” Blake said.

“We won’t go into detail, but that means that for the time being you’ve stepped back from the board whilst an investigation is taking place,” Blake added.

The board met to discuss the probe last week, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

The Post Office said: “We never discuss individuals. We take allegations of misconduct seriously and these are thoroughly investigated through fair and established processes.”

The investigation comes after chief executive Nick Read resigned last week following a five-year stint overshadowed by the fallout from the Horizon scandal, one of the UK’s most serious miscarriages of justice.

The affair was brought to wider public attention by an ITV drama series this year that triggered an outcry and resulted in legislation to exonerate convicted sub-postmasters en masse.

Read will step down in March next year and be replaced by interim chief operating officer Neil Brocklehurst before a permanent appointment is made.

The second of the two sub-postmasters on the board, Elliot Jacobs, has also been subject to an investigation by the Post Office disclosed earlier this year.

Jacobs, who owns a number of branches in London and is due to give evidence to the inquiry tomorrow, was cleared over an alleged accounting discrepancy.

Ismail is still a sub-postmaster after starting with his first branch in Preston in 2010. He currently oversees seven branches and a banking hub, he told the inquiry. He is also a director of a number of companies in the retail and property sectors.

The last phase of the inquiry is examining current practice and procedures at the state-owned organisation and recommendations for the future.