17 January 2024 , 18:17
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Rishi Sunak is refusing to ban Fujitsu from getting Government contracts despite the firm admitting it knew about faults in its Horizon system that led to postmasters being wrongly prosecuted.
Fujitsu Europe Director Paul Patterson told MPs this week the firm was aware of "bugs and errors" from an "early stage" - and acknowledged it had a “moral obligation” to fund compensation for innocent Post Office workers. But the Prime Minister is still insisting ministers wait until the end of the official Post Office Inquiry, which is not due to conclude until later this year, before deciding whether to cut ties with the scandal-hit firm.
The PM's spokesman said the Government will delay judgement until it has "established the facts and presented all evidence". It came as Scotland Yard said an investigation into potential criminal offences linked to the Post Office scandal will take at least until 2026, delaying justice further for postmasters.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said proving criminal intent, if it existed, will need a detailed investigation that "won't be quick". "We're now working with police forces across the country to pull together what will have to be a national investigation, which we'll pull together because there's hundreds of postmasters and mistresses from across the country,” he told LBC.
"Fujitsu are based in one part of the country and the Post Office is in another part of the country, (it's a) massive piece of work to do.” He said there are tens of millions of documents to investigate, adding: “And of course, we've got to do that following on behind the public inquiry, which I think finishes at the end of this year but won't publish until late next year."
Out of touch Rishi Sunak doesn't regularly read papers or online news sites
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Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has requested urgent talks with Fujitsu to hammer out the compensation package for sub-postmasters. No10 confirmed the Department for Business and Trade has "formally started the process of requesting discussions about how we explore" Fujitsu’s contribution to compensation.
But the PM’s spokesman again suggested no action would be taken on this before the end of the official public inquiry as ministers wants to ensure they are “as prepared as possible to act at the appropriate point” after the inquiry establishes the facts.
John Simpkins, a team leader within Fujitsu's software support centre (SSC), said he and his team "downed tools" when they realised the Post Office was using filtered data rather than all the available audit data. He told the inquiry: "The SSC decided we're not happy doing this filtration if it's going to be used in court cases and we stopped."
Fujitsu software developer Gerald Barnes, who also gave evidence today, admitted he thinks subpostmasters should have been informed of errors in the system when they occurred. The inquiry heard that in 2008 he warned a fix was needed to correct an error affecting subpostmasters when they were balancing their accounts in the evening, while in a 2010 statement he warned Fujitsu chiefs the problems with Horizon were “endemic”. His first request was refused because the problems were seen to be a “rarity”.
In a 2013 technical summary, Mr Barnes said a review of the system concluded: “There is a tiny possibility that if an error occurs it will not be reported.” Asked about the possibility of an error occurring and not having been reported, Mr Barnes said: “That’s what it says so it must be the case.”
More than 700 Post Office branch managers were handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.