There has been no discussion of how much Fujitsu, the maker of the faulty Post Office software Horizon, should contribute to compensating its victims, the company’s Europe chief executive has said.
The company has been in discussion with the government about paying towards its proposed billion-pound spend on redress for victims of the computer programme which falsely generated financial shortfalls.
But there has been no mention of a figure for the Japanese company to pay, European CEO Paul Patterson told the inquiry into the Horizon scandal.
More than 700 sub-postmasters running Post Office branches across the UK were wrongfully convicted of theft and false accounting while others wracked up large debts, lost homes, became ill, died by suicide and left communities when they failed to repay imagined shortfalls.
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When asked what Fujitsu was going to compensate, Mr Patterson repeatedly declined to put forward a number but said the company would pay towards an existing government compensation scheme.
Post Office wants to use Horizon ‘system not meant to be continuing‘ for four years
Despite the scandal and sub-postmasters continuing to experience issues with Horizon the programme is still being used by the Post Office and will continue to be used.
It has asked for a four-year extension of its Fujitsu contract, according to Mr Patterson.
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There’s “nervousness” about any extension at Fujitsu, Mr Patterson said as if Horizon continues to be used “there is an increasing risk of failure of the infrastructure that could result in adverse impact in the delivery of services to the public”.
“I am very worried about it,” he said. “This system is not meant to be continuing and it’s not had any material investments in the last four years.”
In fact, Mr Patterson was unable to say if the software was reliable for accounting purposes, adding he was “not qualified to answer” the question.
‘Bureaucracy stopping redress’
Renewed attention has been paid to the failures of Horizon and associated injustices, described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history, after the airing of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office in January 2024.
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‘Bureaucracy got in the way’
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said it was this drama that brought about “urgency” to speed up payments to affected sub-postmasters but that she came up against “bureaucracy” that got in the way of redress during her time as secretary of state at the Department for Business and Trade.
Payment delays
Many victims are yet to receive redress. A sub-postmaster at the inquiry on Monday, Terry, told Sky News he still hasn’t received any money despite it being nearly 20 years since he left his Post Office.
He has heard nothing since he and his wife met Mr Patterson in August. “He hasn’t followed up on the hope that he instilled in us,” his wife Cindy said.
Terry said he felt let down by the establishment, not just Mr Patterson.