Fujitsu helped Post Office cover up

Fujitsu is embroiled in the Post Office scandal, which saw lives ruined and hundreds prosecuted as a result of being wrongly blamed for accounting shortfalls that were caused by errors in its Horizon software.

The supplier has been hit by uncertainty and is waiting to discover how much of the financial costs of the scandal it will pay.

It promised to pay its share, but only after the completion of the statutory public inquiry into the scandal. The evidence has now been heard, and part one of the chair’s report has been published. It will be complete when part two of the report is published later this year.

In part one of the report, which looked at the human impact of the scandal, chair Wyn Williams said it is a “real possibility” that 13 people took their own lives as a result of their treatment by the Post Office after they suffered unexplained shortfalls in their branches.

Fujitsu employees fear for their jobs

One worker at the supplier said: “Fujitsu used to be a good place to work, but I felt sick when I read the first part of the public inquiry report and how many postmasters took their own lives or lost everything.

“All the people at Fujitsu who have lost or are losing their jobs had nothing to do with Horizon, and yet again, nothing happens to anyone in leadership who makes these decisions.”

The second part of the inquiry report, due later this year, will, among other things, report on the Horizon IT system: its procurement, design, pilot, roll-out and modifications. It will analyse Horizon’s operation, including training, the resolution of disputes, and the knowledge and rectification of errors in the system. It will also make judgments on Fujitsu’s role in the prosecution of subpostmasters, who were blamed for accounting shortfalls.

It is the upcoming part of the inquiry report where Fujitsu can expect severe criticism for its role. Beyond its software causing errors, the supplier helped the Post Office cover up the scandal, including giving false evidence in court.

Fujitsu should pay for its part

In February, Former MP and now peer Kevan Jones, who has campaigned for subpostmasters affected by the scandal for a decade and a half, called on Fujitsu to make an interim payment of £300m.

This is, coincidentally, the same amount the Post Office – and therefore taxpayers – have paid lawyers since 2014, a period when the organisation was attempting to hide the scandal.

According to a Freedom of Information request from a campaigner, known on X as Monsieur Cholet, during those 11 years, the Post Office has spent £308m on legal firms, including £188m on services from Herbert Smith Freehills.

On top of this, more than £1bn has already been paid from the public purse to provide financial redress for the affected subpostmasters, with costs rising all the time.

In April last year, Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Committee, told Computer Weekly that the starting point for government negotiations with Fujitsu should be an equal share of costs.

“When it comes to Fujitsu, the government’s starting point has to be 50:50,” he said.

Fujitsu staff told Computer Weekly that the supplier should have paid some contribution already.

The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).