18 January 2024 , 12:55
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The company behind the faulty Horizon IT system has said it will stop bidding for Government contracts while the inquiry into the Post Office scandal is ongoing.
Rishi Sunak has refused to ban Fujitsu from getting fresh taxpayer cash despite the Japanese giant admitting it knew about faults in its Horizon system that led to postmasters being wrongly prosecuted. The PM's spokesman said the Government would need to wait for the public inquiry into the scandal to conclude. Fujitsu has now written to ministers to say it is "voluntarily" choosing not to bid for Government contracts, unless asked, while the inquiry is ongoing.
Speaking in the Commons, Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said: "This morning (the) Cabinet Office received a letter from Fujitsu voluntarily undertaking not to bid for Government contracts whilst the inquiry is ongoing, unless of course the Government ask them to." It came in response to a question from Conservative former cabinet minister Sir David Davis, who called for companies like Fujitsu to be blocked from bidding for future Government contracts on the basis of having "terrible track records".
Labour MP Kate Osborne, who has campaigned on the issue, said: “I’m pleased that Fujitsu has said this but I don’t think they’ve suddenly found their morals. I think what’s happened is there’s been massive reputational damage to them because of this scandal." She questioned whether the Government had pressured Japanese giant to volunteer to stop bidding so it did not have to publicly show "doubt about Fujitsu when they’ve already awarded and they already hold literally billions of pounds worth of contracts".
Ms Osborne also called for "a full review of the existing contracts that they’ve got because I don’t think anybody has any trust in them”. She first called for the Government to pause Fujitsu’s contracts in Parliament in October 2022, but ministers declined.
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The Jarrow MP’s constituent Christopher Head, who had been Britain’s youngest postmaster, was driven out of business after he was wrongly blamed for a £88,000 shortfall. "Chris and the rest of the subpostmasters have seen Fujitsu win contract after contract whilst this has been going on and they must be furious about it," she said. "They’re making millions or billions of pounds and the senior people are awarding themselves bonuses while they’re still fighting many years later for any kind of recompense or compensation for the ordeal they’ve all been put through. The fact they’re still fighting for what they believe the correct level of compensation is is disgraceful."
She also described it as "nonsense" that the Government is waiting to take action until after the inquiry, which is due to end later this year. Referring to a 2019 High Court case that ruled Fujitsu's Horizon system contained bugs and errors, Ms Osborne added: “It’s not necessary [to wait for the result of the inquiry]. The evidence is already here.”
Fujitsu Europe Director Paul Patterson told MPs this week he thought Fujitsu had a “moral obligation” to fund compensation for innocent Post Office workers. But a statement from the company today also confirmed its contribution will not be figured out until after the inquiry. "Based on the findings of the inquiry, we will also be working with the UK government on the appropriate actions, including contribution to compensation," the firm said. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch earlier this week requested urgent talks with Fujitsu to hammer out the compensation package for sub-postmasters.
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. Since 2012, the public sector has awarded Fujitsu almost 200 contracts worth a combined total of £6.8 billion, according to analysts Tussell.
It provides IT services to Government departments including the Home Office, the Foreign Office, Defra and the Ministry of Defence. Contracts include the Police National Computer, which stores criminal records, the Government's flood warning system, and the national emergency alerts system launched last year.