Fujitsu has a “moral obligation” to pay compensation to victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, the company’s Europe boss has said.
During a grilling by MPs, Paul Patterson said he did not have an “estimate” of how much it would pay out.
He told the Commons business committee he was “truly sorry” for the tech giant’s role in helping the Post Office prosecute sub-postmasters.
But he insisted the company was “ethical” and could still bid for future government contracts despite its involvement in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.
The Post Office prosecuted more than 700 workers for fraud and false accounting based on data from its faulty Fujitsu computer system between 2000 and 2015. Only 93 of the convictions have so far been quashed.
Rishi Sunak has said new legislation will be pushed through parliament to “swiftly exonerate and compensate victims”.
A public inquiry is also being held into the scandal, which hit the headlines again over Christmas thanks to the ITV drama ’Mr Bates vs the Post Office.”
Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates told the MPs “people are suffering, they’re dying” while waiting for justice.
“There is no reason at all why full financial redress shouldn’t have been delivered by now,” he said.
Patterson said Fujitsu expected to “sit down with government to determine” how much it would contribute.
“Fujitsu would like to apologise for our part in this appalling miscarriage of justice,” he said.
“I have not got any estimate at all,” he said when asked what the figure would be. “I do not presume to calculate that.”
“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. For that we are a truly sorry.”
“I believe we are an ethical company,” he said. “I think there is a moral obligation for the company to contribute.”
Asked if the firm would bid for future work with the UK government, he said: “It is very clear our brand and our value in the UK and to government is under question. We will look at all of those opportunities and decide yes or no.”
Hundreds of Post Office employees received criminal records, and had to do community service, wear electronic tags or serve jail time.
Some sub-postmasters had even been trying to top up any losses showing up Horizon’s system with their own money.
The Post Office can investigate and prosecute without the police’s help.
Nick Read, the Post Office chief executive, told the committee today it would be unlikely to privately prosecute anyone again.
“I’ve been very clear on my watch they won’t and I see no reason why they should continue to do so,” he said.
For years, it stood by its accusations, and tackled queries about its management or its IT system through legal means, maintaining that Horizon was “robust” and that its monetary losses were not due to the faults in the system.
The stress – and sometimes bankruptcy – brought on by the case left many victims struggling with illness. Families broke down and people were cast out of their communities. There have been at least four suicides linked to the scandal.