Fujitsu boss apologises over "bugs and errors", and pledges to "contribute" to Post Office compensation
Apologising, he acknowledged the now-infamous Horizon system operated by his company did have “bugs and errors” and that his company had helped with prosecutions which contributed to an “appalling miscarriage of justice”.
He was speaking to the Business and Trade Commission shortly after MPs heard evidence from Alan Bates and Jo Hamilton, who featured prominently in the ITV drama which has drawn so much public attention to the scandal.
Fujitsu Europe director Paul Patterson began his hearing by saying: “We were involved from the very start. We did have bugs and errors in the system. And we did help the Post Office in their prosecutions of subpostmasters. For that we are truly sorry.”
Days after Mr Bates Versus the Post Office was watched by more than 10 million people, Rishi Sunak announced those wrongly prosecuted in England and Wales could have their names cleared by the end of the year under fast-tracked legislation.
Those whose convictions are quashed are eligible for a £600,000 compensation payment, while Mr Sunak offered £75,000 to subpostmasters involved in group legal action against the Post Office.
Lawyers have said that hundreds more victims could now come forward after being caught up in the scandal.
Mr Patterson, who has been in his current role since 2019 but has worked at the firm for more than a decade, told MPs that there was a “moral obligation for the company to contribute” to compensation.
“It’s also important that the inquiry deals with these very complex matters,” he said.
“In that context, absolutely we have a part to play and to contribute to the redress, I think is the words that Mr Bates used, the redress fund for the subpostmasters.”
Mr Read, who took charge of the Post Office in September 2019, insisted to the committee that his organisation has now drastically changed.
He blamed a “culture of denial” for the company dragging its feet on compensation, as he also appeared to concede the Post Office could ultimately face liabilities from the scandal of close to £1 billion.
Appearing before the same committee as former boss Paula Vennells did in 2015, he also told MPs he had not “seen any evidence” that executives misled ministers, the courts or Parliament at any stage.
The scandal has seen calls for the Post Office to be stripped of its private prosecution powers.
But Mr Read has said he does not think that the organisation will perform any more private prosecutions in the future.
“I’ve been very clear on my watch they won’t and I see no reason why they should continue to do so,” he told MPs.
But MPs criticised the two bosses for failing to offer sufficient clarity to the committee.
Business and Trade Committee chairman Liam Byrne said he had been “fairly shocked” by the evidence.
“You’ve not been able to supply the committee with key events in the timeline, such as when the Post Office first knew that remote access was possible.
“You’ve told us that you haven’t kept evidence safe about what money was paid to you inappropriately and, therefore, is owed back.
“And you can’t estimate the scale of compensation,” Mr Byrne told the executives.
Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake, who took questions from MPs as the evidence session drew to a close, welcomed the compensation commitment from Fujitsu.
He said that any money from the firm should be used to reimburse the taxpayer over the cost of compensation, which he said was likely to run “north of a billion pounds”.