UK: Fujitsu admits for first time it should help compensate Post Office victims

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Fujitsu, the technology company that built the flawed Horizon IT system at the heart of the Post Office scandal, has admitted for the first time that it should contribute to financial redress for victims.

During evidence sessions, at which MPs on the business and trade committee heard that Horizon victims were “falling apart” while waiting for compensation, Fujitsu’s European boss, Paul Patterson, admitted the company had known the IT system was faulty since the 1990s.

Asked if the Japanese-owned company should contribute to redress for victims, estimated to reach £1bn, he agree it should but said the exact amount would have to wait until the end of the inquiry, led by a judge, Sir Wyn Williams.

A general view of sign outside a Fujitsu office
‘How much is Fujitsu going to pay?’ Questions for Post Office IT firm as it faces MPs
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“I think there is a moral obligation for the company to contribute,” Patterson said. “The right place to determine that is when our responsibility is very clear. There are many parties involved in this travesty.”

He said Fujitsu knew that the Horizon system was flawed at the time that the firm was supporting the Post Office in prosecuting more than 700 post office operators.

“Fujitsu would like to apologise for our part in this appalling miscarriage of justice. We were involved from the very start. We did have bugs and errors from the start and we did help the Post Office with prosecutions of subpostmasters.”

MPs heard from two former post office operators, Joan Hamilton and Alan Bates, the man at the centre of a recent ITV drama that some have credited with spurring political action, including a promise by the government to take the highly unusual step of legislating to overturn convictions en masse.

Both said that claims for redress were being held up by red tape, adding to the suffering of those who had been wrongly prosecuted or convicted.

“It is frustrating to put it mildly,” Bates said. “I mean, there is no reason at all why full financial redress shouldn’t have been delivered by now. It’s gone on for far too long. People are suffering, they’re dying … And it just seems to be tied up in bureaucracy.”

According to Neil Hudgell, a solicitor representing former post office operators claiming redress, just three of 73 claimants he represents have received full payment.

Hamilton described the compensation system as like a “factory of bureaucracy that just swallows up paperwork”.

“I know a lot of the group and they are literally falling apart waiting for the end of this.”

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Bates referred to a 91-year-old former post office operator who was still waiting to be made good. “How many more years has she got to wait for financial redress? It’s very unfair and it’s cruel.”

Hamilton said it was “almost like being retried” and went on to describe the experience of being accused of crimes by the Post Office. “They convinced me that it was all my fault. I wasn’t tech savvy … I thought I’d made a hash of it. They’d gaslit me for about three years.”

Hudgell said senior staff at the Post Office must have been convinced that Horizon would “catch out a nation of dishonest people”.

Lord Arbuthnot, the peer who has long campaigned on behalf of Horizon victims, said the scandal went unquestioned for so long because it involved “people who have been convicted of crime, up against the most trusted brand in the country”.

“But it was actually most trusted because of the relationships that subpostmasters had with communities.”

Nick Read, the chief executive of the Post Office, said the organisation was committed to “get off Horizon”, which still runs Post Office systems and is scheduled to do so until 2025 after contract extensions.

Fujitsu has earned £2.4bn from the contract, which will have run for more than a quarter of a century by the time it concludes.

Fujitsu admits for first time it should help compensate Post Office victims

European boss says company has ‘moral obligation’ to contribute but exact sum will have to wait until end of inquiry

www.theguardian.com

 

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How many lives were destroyed by this computer bug?

 

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It is better late than never.

 

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Fujitsu admitting fault and agreeing to contribute to compensate Post Office victims is a step in the right direction. Hopeful for swift actions to alleviate the suffering of those affected.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

S

Fujitsu admitting fault and agreeing to contribute to compensate Post Office victims is a step in the right direction. Hopeful for swift actions to alleviate the suffering of those affected.

Should have done long ago but nevertheless a great step.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

The UK business minister, Kemi Badenoch, has written to Fujitsu to demand talks on how much it would pay towards compensating Post Office Horizon victims, after the scandal wiped more than $1bn off its value.

The share slump followed testimony from one of its senior executives on Tuesday, who told MPs the Japanese technology company had a “moral obligation” to contribute to any redress for the hundreds of post office operators who were wrongfully prosecuted on the basis of its faulty IT system.

After that admission, Badenoch wrote to the Fujitsu group chief executive, Takahito Tokita, demanding urgent discussions on the proportion of compensation the firm would pay, according to a report by Sky News, which has seen part of the letter.

“As you may know, my department is at the forefront of our government’s efforts to right the wrongs of the past,” she wrote. “I am committed to ensuring that postmasters affected get the justice they deserve. This is why the UK government announced new legislation last week, to overturn wrongful convictions and a plan to ensure swifter access to compensation.”

She added: “I understand that we are awaiting the conclusions of the [judge-led Sir Wyn] Williams inquiry, but ahead of that I would welcome a discussion with you on the type of response Fujitsu might make and the role you foresee Fujitsu playing towards securing justice for those affected.”

The move is likely to put Fujitsu stock under further pressure when Tokyo’s stock market reopens.

The share slump began shortly after parliamentary hearings at which Fujitsu issued a formal apology for its part in the affair, and the business minister Kevin Hollinrake predicted that the compensation fund for victims could rise above £1bn. The company is also facing calls to be excluded from lucrative British government contracts.

In his testimony to MPs on the business select committee on Tuesday, Fujitsu’s European chief, Paul Patterson, also said the company had known that Horizon suffered from bugs since the 1990s.

Despite this, he admitted that the firm had continued to support the Post Office in prosecuting hundreds of post office operators, in some cases leading to innocent people being jailed, or dying before they were able to clear their names.

“I think there is a moral obligation for the company to contribute,” Patterson said, adding that Fujitsu was “truly sorry”. However, he said the exact sum could only be determined after the conclusion to the judge-led inquiry into the scandal.

He admitted that Fujitsu knew the Horizon system was flawed at the time that the firm was supporting the Post Office in prosecuting more than 900 post office operators.

“Fujitsu would like to apologise for our part in this appalling miscarriage of justice. We were involved from the very start. We did have bugs and errors from the start and we did help the Post Office with prosecutions of subpostmasters.”

Just hours after that formal apology, Fujitsu’s shares plunged by more than 4%, sending its stock market value down $1bn (£790m) to $24.8bn.

Its stock has already fallen by nearly 9% since the start of the year, equating to a $2.35bn loss, but this week’s slump is the largest since the Japanese company began to come under the spotlight in recent weeks.

Fujitsu built the Horizon IT system, which produced faulty data that led to prosecutions of more than 900 post office operators for crimes such as theft and false accounting.

The Labour MP Kevan Jones told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday: “They knew about them [bugs in the system] but they also supplied the evidence which then the Post Office took prosecutions. What it will mean, is that Fujitsu for the first time have recognised that they will have to pay the bill for some of the compensation and that it will not all fall on the taxpayer.”

Fujitsu is also battling the impact of a strike by about 300 of its staff who provide IT support to HM Revenue and Customs. HMRC has said that it has measures in place to avoid any disruption.

Source: The Guardian

 

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Children of wrongly convicted sub-postmasters seeking 'family fund' for Post Office scandal

The children of some of the sub-postmasters caught up in the Post Office scandal are calling for a "family fund" for the impact their parents' wrongful convictions and financial collapse had on their lives.

More than 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses had their reputations ruined by allegations of theft and false accounting, with many left bankrupt or in prison, as a result of a computer system called Horizon.

Between 1999 and 2015, many people who ran branches were found guilty, and despite years of campaigning, just 95 have had their convictions quashed.

Now, their children want financial support to "redress the chances that were taken from us growing up".

Campaign group Lost Chances for the Children of Sub-Postmasters was set up in the wake of the scandal to support children over 18 affected by their parents' wrongful convictions.

They are calling for what they call a "family fund" which will include some financial assistance, including counselling and travel bursaries.

The group is run by Katie Downey, whose family started a new life in France after her father Tony Downey was affected by the Post Office's faulty Horizon software.

She's urging Fujitsu, which provided the Horizon IT system to the Post Office, to meet with her.

Supporting the campaign is Adi Misra, whose pregnant mother Seema was wrongly imprisoned for nearly five months.

He also wants assistance, and told Sky News the toll of his mother's wrongful conviction for stealing £75,000 led him to "contemplate committing suicide".

His mother was sent to prison on his 10th birthday, which left him questioning "what's the point of living when my mum is not there?"

He said: "We want to raise our voices and show that we have been impacted as well.

"We are seeking compensation as well in the sense of, like, educational grants, counselling, travel bursaries, things that, really affected us, you know, in our childhoods."

Sam Fowles, a lawyer at Cornerstone Barristers, who helped overturn some of the sub-postmasters wrongful convictions told Sky News it would be difficult for the sub-postmasters' children to be lawfully granted compensation.

He said: "I think they might face a bit of an uphill battle from a legal perspective, but they've got a clear moral case.

"There are two problems from a legal perspective. The first is that we have this concept in English law that's known as remoteness.

"And that means the further you are away from the direct harm caused by the thing that went wrong, the less likely you are to receive compensation."

Some of the sub-postmasters are, themselves, still yet to receive their full and final payments.

Mr Misra says his mother is still waiting, and it continues to have a profound impact on her.

He said: "She hasn't recovered. I don't think she will recover. She is also scarred for life as well. The fact that she was genuinely about to commit suicide, it's heartbreaking."

Fujitsu said in a statement: "We are in discussions with the legal representatives of victims who have core participant status in Sir Wyn Williams' inquiry with regard to future meetings."

SKY NEWS