Victims of the scandal re-mortgaged their homes, sold their possessions and handed over savings in an attempt to balance the books after being told there was a shortfall in their accounts – even though faults in the Horizon computer system were to blame.
But Post Office officials say they don’t know what happened to the money and have admitted it could have been paid to executives as bonuses.
Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake will tell bosses to give him all the information it has about the missing funds.
He said: “What it did with the monies claimed from postmasters due to errors in the Horizon system is a complex matter.”
The Government wanted to know “what information is available and in what form,” he added.
Conservative MP Sir John Redwood said: “For years I have been asking where this money went. We are due a statement from the Post Office on what they did with the money they took off the sub-postmasters, and why they can’t just send it back.” Questioned by MP Ian Lavery at a Commons hearing last week, Post Office chief executive Nick Read said “it is possible” the cash was spent on bonuses.
Mr Lavery said: “It beggars belief to think the monies repaid to the Post Office, which wasn’t owed in the first place, could have ended up paying executives massive bonuses, in addition to their huge wages.”
The scandal was highlighted by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, and since it aired another 200 postmasters who were affected have come forward.
But there are believed to be hundreds more entitled to compensation who have not yet applied. Former postmistress Jo Hamilton, who ran a branch in South Warnborough, Hampshire, and whose story featured in the drama, was forced to re-mortgage her home and borrow cash after being accused of stealing £36,000.
She said: “They kept my wages, and then I re-mortgaged and put money in. Because I had such a long lease on the shop, I knew if they sacked me – because they said they would – the whole thing would collapse. I felt that I had no choice.”
A total of 983 people were convicted and only 95 convictions have so far been overturned. The Government is introducing emergency legislation to quash the others.
A compensation package is expected to cost more than £1billion.
An overwhelming majority of the public want those responsible for the scandal jailed, a Sunday Express survey has found.
A poll by WeThink shows 72 per cent support prison sentences for those to blame for the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters, with 10 per cent disagreeing.
● FORMER Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells faces demands to hand back a £400,000 bonus over the scandal.
A petition signed by more than 2,000 people says she “should not benefit from the shambles, pain and misery she has left behind in her wake”.
In all, Ms Vennells, 64, is thought to have received around £2.2million in bonuses.
