Post Office and Fujitsu bosses to be grilled by MPs next week

Bosses from the Post Office and Fujitsu will be grilled by MPs next week over the Horizon scandal which resulted in hundreds of sub-postmasters being wrongly convicted of fraud and theft.

Parliament’s Business and Trade Committee will take evidence from Post Office chief executive Nick Read and head of Fujitsu Services Limited Europe Paul Patterson on Tuesday.

They will be questioned on “what more can be done to deliver full, fair and fast compensation for victims of the scandal, which has been labelled the worst miscarriage of justice in British history,” the Commons said.

For 16 years from 1999, the Post Office prosecuted more than 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses based on incorrect evidence from the faulty Horizon software - created by Fujitsu - which said there was money missing from their accounts.

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No one from the Post Office or Fujitsu has ever been held to account over the scandal, but ministers want the Japanese tech firm to pay.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told ITV he thinks the company should repay the “fortune” spent on the Post Office scandal if it is found culpable by the ongoing statutory inquiry.

He said the government would want to “secure proper recompense on behalf of the taxpayer” if the inquiry “scale of the incompetence is as we might imagine”.

Some £138 million has been paid in compensation already and that number is expected to rise by several million when everyone wronged has been paid.

Mr Chalk said the government would wait for the conclusions of the inquiry chaired by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams before it decides what action to take against the company.

“But bluntly, if the scale of the incompetence is as we might imagine, then I simply would want to secure proper recompense on behalf of the taxpayer,” the Cabinet minister told ITV’s Peston.

“It’s absolutely right that there should be justice across the piece, yes for the sub-postmasters, which we’re talking about today, but frankly also for the taxpayer. This has cost and will cost a fortune.”

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If Fujitsu is found to be at fault, it “should face the consequences”, Mr Chalk added, in a sign ministers could launch legal action against the Japanese company.

The firm has won billions in government contracts since the Post Office stopped Horizon-based prosecutions in 2015.

It is still one of the government's 'Strategic Suppliers', which typically means it receives over £100 million in contracts per year, according to procurement analysts Tussell.

But many politicians want the government to stop awarding Fujitsu contracts.

Conservative former minister David Davis said: "I would certainly suspend any possibility of new contracts until [the inquiry] is over."

Asked if the government would reconsider future deals with Fujitsu, the prime minister's spokesman said: "The culpability or otherwise of Fujitsu is something that is being examined as part of the independent inquiry process. So I'm unable to fully opine at this point." 

What is the Post Office Horizon scandal?

In 1999 the Post Office introduced digital accounting software named Horizon - created by Japanese tech firm Fujitsu - which replaced the paper-based process of the past.

But it soon became clear to some sub-postmasters that the software was creating discrepancies in their accounts, making it look like cash was missing.

A sub-postmaster is someone not directly employed by the Post Office, who runs a separate retail business which hosts a Post Office facility on their site. The idea is that an in-house Post Office would drive customers to their business.

But many didn't - and the Post Office, which has the power to run private prosecutions, sought to have many sub-postmasters convicted of fraud and theft.

Between 1999 and 2015, 736 sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted but concerns with the flawed Horizon system were raised in court as early as 2003.

By 2012, potential problems with Horizon were so apparent the Post Office launched a review to satisfy politicians who had been complaining on behalf of their aggrieved constituents.

The Post Office however continued prosecuting sub-postmasters until 2015 but the miscarriage of justice was confirmed in 2019 when the High Court ruled that Horizon was to blame.

A number of compensation schemes were introduced by the government and £87 million was eventually paid out through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme to more than 2,500 sub-postmasters who lost money but weren't convicted.

The government has agreed that all wrongly convicted sub-postmasters are entitled to compensation of £600,000 but they can only be paid once their convictions have been quashed.

To date, just 93 convictions have been overturned.

Some 550 sub-postmasters successfully sued the Post Office, winning £58 million collectively but court costs had to be paid from that sum before it was shared amongst them, meaning they received significantly less than £600,000.

Rishi Sunak on Wednesday announced legislation which will give blanket exonerations to all those wrongfully convicted.

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