Tim Parker said he regretted following advice not to give the council the 2016 Swift report, which questioned whether the Post Office had sufficient evidence to prosecute sub-postmasters.
A former Post Office director told the Horizon IT scandal investigation that his in-house lawyers advised him against sharing a report he had prepared on the accounting system.
Tim Parker, who held the role for almost seven years from October 2015, said he regretted following advice that the findings of Jonathan Swift’s 2016 investigation were legally confidential.
He said he could not recall whether it was received verbally or in writing from Jane MacLeod, general counsel at the Post office.
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Counsel for the inquiry, Jason Beer KC, recalled that Ms MacLeod had stated in her own witness statement that she had informed the board of the findings and that the report was available to members on request.
However, the investigation found that none of the conclusions were shared with the Post Office board or the government, let alone with the lawyers for the hundreds of postmasters who have been convicted of theft and fraud in connection with their use of Horizon since 1999.
Mr Parker said he was confident the lawyers would investigate the findings further and the report would be shared later, possibly with some amendments.
The Swift investigation called into question the Post Office’s evidentiary power to secure convictions.
Both requests have since been withdrawn, but victims remain frustrated with the speed of compensation procedures, despite government intervention.
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When questioned by Mr Beer, Mr Parker rejected any suggestion that he was keen to bury the Swift investigation.
“What motive would I have had at the time to hide this report from my fellow board members, other than being advised not to share it with them?”
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“Remember, I had no ulterior motives in this, I had no interest in protecting the Post Office… It was just the advice I was given and I followed it.”
He said he was satisfied at the time that the advice had been given in good faith, but acknowledged that in retrospect the motive may not have been in the best interests of the sub-postmasters.
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He added that he could not recall any briefing from Ms MacLeod. He agreed with Mr Beer that there were no notes of it in the minutes of the board meeting.
Mr Parker also told the hearing that he had thought long and hard about whether he should offer a full apology to the victims of the miscarriages of justice.
“Today I toyed with the idea of making an opening statement. Standing up, saying ‘I’m so sorry,’ as many people have done, and it sparked a discussion with people.
“Should I do this? Because I want to apologize. And the response I got was ‘well, you could do this, but actually people have gotten a bit tired of it and it all sounds a bit hollow and you’re probably going to irritate people more than give them any idea of your real desire to apologize.'”
The investigation is expected to resume next Tuesday.