In response to a Freedom of Information request by the , the Post Office said that after a review of emails, it had located references to six meetings during Mr Keegan’s time in charge but that it was “unable to verify whether all these meetings took place”.
It also said it did not believe the information it held was a “complete record of all meetings between both parties”.
Mr Keegan’s lawyers said two of the meetings referred to by the Post Office never happened.
One conversation, in 2015, between Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells followed Fujitsu being approached by Panorama about its investigation into the Post Office and the flawed Horizon IT system.
And despite previous media reports claiming that the Horizon system was never discussed, a letter from Mr Keegan to Ms Vennells includes reference to the “current application”. It appears that the application he was referring to was Horizon.
In the letter dated 14 November 2014, Mr Keegan appears to be arguing against the Post Office shaking up the structure of its IT systems, including Horizon, and inviting new suppliers to bid to run them.
He also appears to propose that the Post Office should keep at least some parts of Horizon and pitched this to Ms Vennells as an “evolutionary approach that will provide the digital front end you need but will retain much of the investment already made in the stable back end of the current application [Horizon]”.
Mr Keegan’s lawyers said that his involvement in the Post Office contract related to strategic and commercial decisions, he did not discuss the details of Horizon with Ms Vennells, and that the letter related to Fujitsu’s decision to exit as the supplier of the Front Office Tower – the name given to the IT contract which encompassed Horizon.
The documents reveal that Mr Keegan and Ms Vennells met for the first time within days of his appointment as chief executive of Fujitsu UK.
In an email dated 23 May 2014, he writes: “It was good to meet on Monday.”
He thanks Ms Vennells for her “candour” and adds: “Within Private Sector, you are our most important customer by far and I want that position to remain as such for the foreseeable future.”
His second meeting with Ms Vennells is confirmed in a letter dated 14 November 2014, which he says is a follow-up to “our conversation on 31 October”.
Mr Keegan’s lawyers said the first meeting was not about Horizon and was attended by several other people.
They said the second meeting was a short telephone call to inform the Post Office that Fujitsu would not be bidding in the procurement process to replace Horizon.
A few weeks later, according to the records disclosed by the Post Office, the two chief executives met on 2 December.
Ms Vennells followed this up with an email in which she wrote: “Thanks again for the meeting.”
Lawyers for Mr Keegan told the this was the only time their client attended a one-to-one meeting with Ms Vennells and the purpose of the meeting was to discuss Fujitsu exiting as a supplier of Horizon.
The documents also give the impression of a close relationship.
“Thank you for your time and your honesty. We both have concerns in this situation and I’m glad we were able to share them in a frank way,” Ms Vennells writes.
“I suggest we keep regular contact – and breakfast on me next time, or a drink in (REDACTED).”
Mr Keegan replies by email 10 minutes later.
“My pleasure and really good to spend time together to discuss all these matters in such an open way.”
Mr Keegan’s lawyers say the pair did not keep in regular contact or meet again in person.
They did however have one further telephone call, on 25 June, after Fujitsu was approached by Panorama about the programme’s investigation.
The following week Mr Keegan started a new role as head of Fujitsu Hardware.
