Wrongly convicted former sub-postmaster lost nearly £3m in Post Office scandal
A former sub-postmaster who was wrongly convicted of stealing from post offices says the scandal has cost him nearly £3million and taken years off his life.
Sami Sabet owned three post offices in East Sussex and was among 736 postmasters convicted of theft and fraud due to the company's faulty Horizon system.
Despite an apology from system developers Fujitsu at the commons committee, he says the blame should lie squarely with the Post Office.
The 68-year-old believes the scandal has cost him £2.8 million, and his lawyers are currently in the process of putting in a bid for compensation from the Post Office.
Mr Sabet says the blame for the Horizon scandal should lie squarely with the Post Office (The Argus/Sussex News and Pictures)As well as his financial losses, Mr Sabet has also suffered what he calls 'intangible' costs to his mental and physical health as a result of the scandal. Mr Sabet was diagnosed with severe PTSD and suffered heart problems since his wrongful conviction.
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He also expressed his surprise at Fujitsu's Europe director Paul Patterson telling MPs at a Business and Trade select committee that the company has a 'moral obligation' to contribute towards victims' compensation.
However, Mr Sabet insists the lion's share of blame should remain at the feet of the 'criminals' at the Post Office, who were told about problems with the Horizon system but continued their prosecutions of sub-postmasters.
The father-of-one admitted to stealing more than £50,000 after being told he would likely be sent to prison if he denied the theft. Mr Sabet, an ex-engineer who was forced to take up jobs cleaning toilets in petrol stations after his wrongful conviction, says his claims are a 'conservative' estimate.
He says it is from the loss of his three Post Offices in Shoreham and Brighton, the loss of his pension and job, and his ability to obtain a job in the industry he trained in amongst other losses, as well as factoring in rises in interest rates and salaries.
He said: "There are so many things. You have lost an income from the Post Office for 16 years. I couldn't get a job in my industry that could pay as much or more than that because of my conviction.
"What about the loss of your business? How much is each going to sell for now, because each has cash flow issues? And if you can't sell it, you might lose it completely - you might lose all of that just for the conviction...
"How much was it then, compared to how much it should be now? For some people, that would be more than £2.8m or £3m - plus all the intangible losses. Damage to our health and severe damage to mental health, loss of reputation... These intangible losses are more important.
"I would get tens or hundreds of thousands in the US just for them. How much is it worth if you were labelled a convict? Now that people think you're a thief?"
Mr Sabet added that he hadn't expected Fujitsu boss Paul Patterson's apology to victims at the commons committee. However, he said claims the company had a 'moral obligation' to contribute towards victims' compensation could delay the process even further.
On the Fujitsu apology, he said: "It was interesting that they actually said that. But if the Post Office knew there were problems with the Fujitsu system, then they shouldn't have prosecuted in the first place.
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"Fujitsu are probably saying this now because they're going to lose millions of pounds from the government. But it really is down to the Post Office... If they knew there was a problem with the computer system, why didn't they stop the litigation?
Mr Sabet said the Post Office "are the criminals" rather than Fujitsu, and were "the ones who continued to prosecute us" after issues came to light. He added: "We have been waiting almost three years for the compensation to be concluded properly and fairly. Are they (the Post Office and Fujitsu) going to argue over what each of them is going to pay?
"It could delay the compensation and possibly affect it in a negative way. If Fujitsu are responsible, that is between them and the Post Office. But we have not taken up contracts with Fujitsu. The Post Office were the ones who we had a contract with. They were the ones that destroyed us."
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