Mr Read, who took on the top role in September 2019, five months after Ms Vennells stepped down, was also asked what the organisation was doing about the staff who worked with the investigation team when wrongful prosecutions were taking place.
The chief executive said the Post Office kept some of these employees on the company’s payroll because they have “human rights”.
Addressing questions on employees who were involved in investigations in the past, Mr Read said in his witness statement: “I would have preferred [the] Post Office to take more decisive action, and said as much at board discussions.
“That is not where the organisation is, however, and the collective decision was made at board [level] not to simply dismiss anyone who was for instance an investigator at the time, but against whom there was no direct evidence of wrongdoing, later to transfer them to other departments, offer voluntary redundancy where possible, but, where appropriate to thoroughly investigate.”
Later, he added: “[The] Post Office understands that unless wrongdoing can be formally and fairly established, it cannot simply remove existing staff because they were in a post when the miscarriages of justice were taking place. Those individuals of course have employment and indeed human rights themselves.”