Tributes are being paid to a former sub-postmaster who has died without receiving full compensation after being wrongly convicted during the Post Office Horizon IT scandal. He was 67 years old.
The news was broken by BBC Breakfast just moments into the show today (March 17).
Parmod Kalia, 67, ran a branch in Orpington, south-east London, for 11 years before he was accused of theft and spent six months in prison.
In 2001, Kalia Parmod made a “confession”, telling Post Office investigators that he took £22,000 from his branch to buy shares. He pleaded guilty to theft and in 2002 was given a six month custodial sentence.
Kalia had subsequently stated the discrepancies at his branch was due to Horizon errors and his confessions was false, made in abject fear of going to prison and signed under duress.
When his conviction was quashed at Southwark Crown Court in 2021, the Post Office did not oppose their appeals on the grounds that it was not in the public interest to pursue a retrial.
However, the Post Office said if there had been retrials, there was a reasonable prospect of conviction and therefore Kalia was not owed full compensation for malicious prosecution.
Kalia was also a part of the post office enquiry. He had explained how his union rep had told him to pay the money back, plead guilty and hope for a shorter sentence.
Last year, he was part of a choir made up of victims and families of the post office scandal that reached the final of Britain's Got Talent.
Paying tribute to Kalia, Christopher Head OBE, Campaigner for Justice for all involved in the Post Office Horizon Scandal, stated, "Yesterday the family of Parmod Kalia told us of the devastating news that he had passed away aged just 67.
"The ordeal this gentle and kind man went through was unimaginable. Sentenced to 6 months in prison after being wrongfully accused by the Post Office Ltd.
"He suffered from depression, anxiety, stress and was diagnosed with cancer, as well as beginning to lose his sight. Yet the Post Office and government made him have to fight at every turn.
"First designated a public interest case, and therefore was not entitled to compensation, this took over 2 years to overturn. Yet despite acknowledging he was now entitled to redress, he died without seeing his compensation. That is over 5 years since his conviction was quashed and over 2 years since the public interest was overcome."