Post Office scandal cost me nearly £3m, says wrongly convicted sub-postmaster

A former sub-postmaster who was wrongly convicted by the Post Office says the scandal has cost him almost £3 million.

Sami Sabet, 68, owned three post offices in East Sussex and was among 736 postmasters convicted of theft and fraud because of the company’s faulty Horizon system.

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.

He received a 12-month suspended sentence in 2009 after admitting two charges of fraud. The conviction was eventually overturned at the Court of Appeal in 2021.

Mr Sabet, an ex-engineer, was forced to take up jobs cleaning lavatories in petrol stations after his wrongful conviction.

He estimates the scandal has cost him £2.8 million. His lawyers are putting in a bid for compensation from the Post Office.

The figure combines the loss of his three Post Offices in Shoreham and Brighton, his pension and job, and his ability to obtain employment in the industry for which he is trained, as well as taking account of rises in interest rates and salaries.

Alongside his financial losses, he has also suffered what he calls “intangible” losses to his mental and physical health as a result of the scandal.

Heart problems

Mr Sabet was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and said he has suffered heart problems since his wrongful conviction, saying the ordeal has taken years off his life.

He expressed his surprise at Paul Patterson, Fujitsu’s Europe director, telling MPs at a business and trade select committee on Tuesday that the company has a “moral obligation” to contribute towards victims’ compensation.

Mr Sabet believes the lion’s share of blame should remain with “criminals” at the Post Office, who were told about problems with the Horizon system but continued their prosecutions of sub-postmasters.

“There are so many things,” he said. “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 was it then, compared to how much it should be now?

“For some people, that would be more than £2.8 million or £3 million – 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?”

‘Involved from the start’

Fujitsu apologised to victims at the Post Office Commons committee inquiry on Tuesday.

Mr Patterson described the case as an “appalling miscarriage of justice” and admitted the company had been “involved from the very start”.

But Mr Sabet said claims the company had a “moral obligation” to contribute towards victims’ compensation could delay the process even further.

Of Fujitsu’s 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.

“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. They were the ones that destroyed us.”