THE Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has launched an investigation into EY’s audit of Post Office Limited, the regulator said on Wednesday.
The move comes as inquiries continue into one of the country’s most serious miscarriages of justice.
The FRC said the probe will look into EY’s audits of the Post Office’s financial statements between 2015 and 2018.
The investigation will focus on the Horizon IT system, which was at the centre of the scandal.
“We have been notified of the FRC’s intention to open an investigation into the EY audits of Post Office Limited for the financial years ending March 2015 – March 2018,” a spokesperson for EY said.
“We take our public interest responsibilities extremely seriously and will be fully cooperating with the FRC during their investigation,” the spokesperson said.
Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of self-employed sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly prosecuted or convicted for offences such as false accounting, theft and fraud.
The errors were linked to faults in the Horizon software, which incorrectly showed shortfalls in branch accounts.
(With inputs from AFP)
Damian Talbot
Nirmala Sitharaman speaks at the India-UK Investor Roundtable in London last Wednesday (9). On the panel were India’s department of economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth and Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak
Sitharaman with Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves
Sitharaman with Jonathan Reynolds 
Sitharaman with Reynolds, Alastair King, India’s high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and other delegates