Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells knew about the hack two years before Parliament refused, records reveal.

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Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of the Post Office, may have been informed of the existence of a "covert operations team" which could access distance to the Horizon system and adjust the branch accounts two years before it. appeared in Parliament.

In recently emerging allegations, Ms Vennells was told by the Post Office's general counsel that a unit at Fujitsu's headquarters in Bracknell could remotely access accounts of the deputy post chief.

Tapes obtained by Channel 4 show the Post's chief lawyer, Susan Crichton, twice confirming that she was aware of the allegations.

In the audio recording – dating from 2013 – Ms Crichton can be heard saying:

“[Paula] is aware of this allegation. She knows we are working on it. »

She added: “She has everything. The way I've tried to inform Paula is that as soon as I have proof that there's a problem, she knows it the next minute."

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells lost her CBE after public discontent over her role in the Horizon scandal

The recording dates from two years before the Post Office ended proceedings against its own subpostmasters, and two years before the former general manager declared to MPs in 2015 that it was not possible to remotely access the accounts of deputy postmasters. .

In written evidence presented to the Committee of Inquiry into Business, Innovation and Skills, the Post Office said: "There is no functionality in Horizon that would enable a branch, to the Post Office or Fujitsu to modify, manipulate...