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Japanese tech giant Fujitsu is facing growing pressure from U.K. political quarter over its use in a scandal that see 100 of post office owners prosecuted for accounting discrepancies .
But as Fujitsu has go forth as a run protagonist in a saga that has endured for about a quarter - of - a - 100 , the government has continued to give the Japanese tech giant contracts deserving billions of pound sign asone of its strategic suppliers , even after a U.K. court find Fujitsu ’s accounting software to be faulty and undependable .
TheBritish Post Office Scandalwas thrust back into the public cognisance last hebdomad follow U.K. spreader ITV ’s four - part serialization , Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office , which narrate how more than 700 sub - postmasters ( Post Office franchisees ) were wrongfully prosecuted for shammer , fictitious account and theft over a 15 - year period , with many incarcerate , losing their livelihood and facing failure .
As thing finally transpired , the “ reconciliation ” errors in the sub - postmasters ’ books were due to a faulty IT system that had been bring in by the government in 2000 to digitalise societal benefit payments . The software , dub Horizon , was developed by International Computers Limited ( ICL ) , a British fellowship that came under full Fujitsu ownershipin 1998 , before beingsubsumed by the Fujitsu brand in 2001 .
Campaign
A longstanding crusade to batten down justice for hoagie - postmasters that had been convicted was established in 2009 , with coalition member arguing that Horizon was to blame for the financial discrepancies . A long , disputation - strewn independent private inquiry close in 2015 with the Post Office itself concluding that there was no system - wide IT problems , leading theJustice for Sub - postmasters Allianceto kick - off legal action , culminate with a £ 58 million settlementin December 2019 — and aHigh Court rulingthat the Horizon organisation was n’t robust or dependable .
Since the start of this year , the British Post Office Scandal has dominated newspaper headline and public conversation in the U.K. That it has take a television play to generate this level of tending , when the whole episode has been deal extensively in the news medium formany years , is perhaps a story in itself . But there are now renew birdsong for Fujitsu to confront Justice Department , with Member of Parliament ( MP ) and former Home Secretary Priti Patelpublicly callingfor Fujitsu — and the Post Office — to be “ held to account . ”
“ It is clear that Fujitsu face serious questions that demand a response , ” Jonathan Reynolds , Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade , state in Parliament this week . “ If it is discover that Fujitsu recognise the extent of what was go on , there will have to be consequences that match the scale of the unfairness . ”
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politician haveasked society official to participatein an evidence session in Parliament next week , with the electric chair of the Commons Business and Trade Select Committee , Liam Byrne MP , saying that it ’s “ vital that Fujitsu concede how they get it so incorrect , ” questioning how the company has been able to cover taking public sector contracts .
But incredibly , £ 2.4 billion of these funds were award for the Post Office ’s Horizon system itself , with a£36 million extension signedjust two months ago to keep thing campaign until March , 2025 . The Post Office say it had plan to transition to a new cloud - based substructure , but that it had met significant technological challenge and has had to stay with Fujitsu to oversee its on - premises substructure .
Some 24 yearsafter the first Post Office convictionsthat relied on Horizon software data point , nobody from Fujitsu has been sustain to account . police force haveinterviewedformer Fujitsuemployees over potential perjuryat the original sub - postmaster trial run , while a statutorypublic enquiry into the Horizon IT systemhas also been ongoing since 2021 .
What ’s clear from these past 10 days is that whatever investigations were already ongoing into the dirt , Fujitsu now will occur under swell scrutiny — and all it demand was a idiot box dramatization to get the public and politician toreallycare .
“ The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory Inquiry is examining complex events elongate back over 20 years to understand who knew what , when , and what they did with that knowledge , ” a Fujitsu representative pronounce in a program line issued to TechCrunch . “ The Inquiry has reward the crushing impact on postmasters ’ lives and that of their families , and Fujitsu has apologised for its character in their excruciation . Fujitsu is to the full committed to supporting the Inquiry in guild to understand what go on and to learn from it . Out of esteem for the Inquiry mental process , it would be unfitting for Fujitsu to comment further at this sentence . ”
This article was update with comment from Fujitsu .
