The former boss of Fujitsu UK has admitted having four meetings with Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, some of which discussed Fujitsu’s Horizon IT system.
Previous media reports said Michael Keegan, the husband of former Conservative minister Gillian Keegan, had only met Ms Vinnells once and had not discussed Horizon.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 deputy postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted after a flaw in Horizon software caused funds in post office branch accounts to appear missing.
Keegan’s lawyer said he regretted the unfair prosecution of the deputy postmaster general and denied any involvement.
Mr Keegan confirmed to BBC News that he met Ms Vennells four times during the 13 months he served as Fujitsu UK chief executive from May 2014 to June 2015.
Two of the meetings were face-to-face and the other two were by telephone.
During his tenure, lawmakers launched an investigation into the Horizon software and Second Sight, a team of forensic accountants, is investigating the system.
Ms Vennells served as Post Office Chief Executive from 2012 to 2019.
In 2022, Mr Keegan successfully complained to the news regulator IPSO over an article in The Sunday Times. The summary of the complaint included in the IPSO decision stated that he had only met Ms Vennells once.
Keegan’s lawyer said he remembered only one face-to-face meeting at the time.
In response to a freedom of information request from the BBC, the Post Office said that after reviewing emails it had found six meetings during Mr Keegan’s time in charge but was “unable to verify whether all of them had taken place”.
It also said it did not believe the information it had was “a complete record of all meetings between the parties”.
Keegan’s lawyer said the two meetings cited by the Post Office never happened.
Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells had a conversation in 2015 following a BBC Panorama investigation into Fujitsu’s post office and flawed Horizon IT systems.
Despite previous media reports claiming the Horizon system had never been discussed, a letter from Mr Keegan to Ms Vennells referred to “current applications”. It appears that the app he is referring to is Horizon.
In the letter dated 14 November 2014, Mr Keegan appeared to object to the Post Office changing the structure of its IT systems, including Horizon, and inviting bids from new suppliers to run the systems.
He also appeared to suggest that the Post Office should keep at least some parts of Horizon, pitching Ms Vennells as an “incremental approach that would give you the digital front-end you need but retain the stability that’s already there” Most investments are made on the client side. Current application ends [Horizon]”.
Lawyers for Mr Keegan said his involvement in the post office contract involved strategic and commercial decisions and that he had not discussed the details of Horizon with Ms Vennells, while the letter related to Fujitsu’s decision to withdraw as supplier of the front office building – including Horizon The name of the IT contract.
Documents show Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells first met within days of his appointment as chief executive of Fujitsu UK.
In an email on May 23, 2014, he wrote: “It was great to meet on Monday.”
He thanked Ms Vennells for her “candor”, adding: “In the private sector you are by far our most important customer and I hope to maintain that position for the foreseeable future.”
His second meeting with Ms Vennells was confirmed in a letter dated November 14, 2014, which he said was a follow-up to “our conversation on October 31”.
Keegan’s lawyer said the first meeting had nothing to do with Horizon and was attended by several other people.
They said the second meeting was a brief phone call informing the post office that Fujitsu would not bid in the procurement process to replace Horizon.
Weeks later, the two executives met on December 2, according to records released by the Post Office.
Ms Vinnells later sent an email in which she wrote: “Thank you again for the meeting.”
Mr Keegan’s lawyers told the BBC it was the only one-on-one meeting their client had ever attended with Ms Vennells, which was to discuss Fujitsu’s withdrawal from Horizon as a supplier.
The documents also give the impression of a close relationship.
“Thank you for your time and honesty. We all have concerns about this situation and I’m glad we were able to share those concerns candidly,” Ms. Vinnells wrote.
“I suggest we keep in regular contact – buy me breakfast next time, or have a drink at (REDACTED).”
Mr Keegan responded via email 10 minutes later.
“I’m happy and excited to spend time together discussing all of these issues in such an open way.”
Keegan’s lawyer said the pair did not maintain regular contact and did not meet again.
However, they spoke again on the phone on June 25 after BBC Panorama approached Fujitsu about its investigation into the scheme.
The following week, Mr. Keegan began his new position as head of Fujitsu hardware.
The Panorama investigation was originally due to air on June 22, 2015, but was postponed to June 29, four days after Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells’ phone call.
The program aired the testimony of Fuji informants, Finally aired on August 17.
The Post Office said it found references to two further meetings held on the last weekend of May 2015, but Mr Keegan denied those meetings had taken place.
Keegan’s lawyers told BBC News that the prosecution of the deputy postmaster general over the Horizon data had effectively ceased in 2013, long before he was appointed UK chief executive.
The BBC’s freedom of information request was first made in January 2024, when Gillian Keegan was education secretary and her husband had served in the Cabinet Office for four years, overseeing the government’s relationship with a major commercial supplier.
The Post Office did not respond to the BBC’s request until August, more than six months after the legal deadline.
Mr Keegan voluntarily resigned from the Cabinet Office in late January, while his wife lost her seat at the July general election.
