The boss of Fujitsu has apologised for the Horizon scandal and said the company has a “moral obligation” to contribute to the compensation scheme for victims.
Paul Patterson, director of Europe’s Fujitsu Services Limited, told a committee of MPs he was sorry on behalf of the company, which developed the faulty IT software at the heart of hundreds of wrongful convictions.
“Fujitsu would like to apologise for our part in this appalling miscarriage of justice,” he said.
“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 the sub-postmasters and for that we are truly sorry.”
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MPs quiz Fujitsu – after admission of ‘bugs and errors’
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses were handed criminal convictions after discrepancies in the Horizon software made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
Some were sent to jail, many were made bankrupt and the scandal has been linked to at least four suicides.
Mr Patterson went onto say that the company has a “moral obligation” to contribute to the compensation scheme.
He said Fujitsu gave evidence which was used to send innocent people to prison.
Asked if staff knew before 2010 that there were bugs in the system, he said that was for the inquiry into the scandal to establish.
However he said it was his “gut feeling” that this was the case.
He said he did not know why the company didn’t act when it knew there were glitches in the system.
“I don’t know, I really don’t know,” he said.
“On a personal level I wish I did and following my employment in 2019, I’ve looked back on those situations for the company and from the evidence I’ve seen, I just don’t know.”
Mr Patterson has been in his current role since 2019 but has worked for Fujitsu since 2010.
He is appearing alongside Post Office boss Nick Read as public and political anger continues over the Horizon scandal in the wake of the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs the Post Office, which documented the sub-postmasters’ 20-year fight for justice.
Earlier Alan Bates and other campaigners who the drama was centred on blamed red tape and bureaucracy on delays for subpostmasters accessing compensation.
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