Fujitsu management acknowledges its role in one of the country's biggest legal scandals.
Fujitsu's European chief executive, Paul Patterson, has admitted that the company has a "moral obligation" to pay damages to innocently convicted employees of British post offices. The basis for the charges were failures in the Fujitsu Horizon software. Patterson confirmed that the postal service was aware of problems with the program. This was reported by the BBC, referring to the words of the participants of the incident.
Fujitsu CEO Takahito Tokita also issued an apology, noting that the company recognizes the impact of the situation on the lives of post office workers and their families.
As the BBC explains, in the late nineties and early noughties, a large shortage was found in several post offices in the UK. Some post office managers immediately reported that the problem lay in the work of Horizon software, which reported false shortfalls of sometimes thousands of pounds. However, as a result of the investigation, more than 900 employees of the post office were brought to justice for falsifying accounting documents and embezzlement.
The situation is recognized as the most massive case of court injustice in the history of Great Britain. To date, only 93 sentences have been overturned, and thousands of people continue to expect compensation after more than 20 years. Some deputy directors were wrongfully imprisoned, and many went bankrupt. Some have since died.
A Scottish law enforcement official apologised to the victims, pointing out that the postal service had misled Scottish law enforcement. In England and Wales, most prosecutions were carried out by the postal service itself.
Tokita did not confirm whether Fujitsu will refund funds earned on the faulty Horizon system. During a hearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Business and Trade, Paul Patterson suggested that the company's employees were aware of the problems with Horizon even before 2010. The head of the postal service, Nick Reed (since 2019), could not specify the exact date when it became known about the possibility of remote access to the system.
One of the victims compared the process of getting compensation to "re-incriminating a crime." The judge stressed the need for prompt payment of compensation to victims, many of whom live in conditions of lack of funds.
The lawyer said that out of 77 wrongly convicted persons, only 3 received full compensation. Patterson apologized for Fujitsu's role in the incident, admitting that the company was involved from the very beginning.
Nick Reed acknowledged the existence of a "culture of denial" in the organization, which makes it difficult to pay compensation. The postal service expressed its intention to reduce bureaucracy in the payment process, but recognized the complexity of the situation due to the variety of compensation schemes.
Fujitsu's European chief executive, Paul Patterson, has admitted that the company has a "moral obligation" to pay damages to innocently convicted employees of British post offices. The basis for the charges were failures in the Fujitsu Horizon software. Patterson confirmed that the postal service was aware of problems with the program. This was reported by the BBC, referring to the words of the participants of the incident.
Fujitsu CEO Takahito Tokita also issued an apology, noting that the company recognizes the impact of the situation on the lives of post office workers and their families.
As the BBC explains, in the late nineties and early noughties, a large shortage was found in several post offices in the UK. Some post office managers immediately reported that the problem lay in the work of Horizon software, which reported false shortfalls of sometimes thousands of pounds. However, as a result of the investigation, more than 900 employees of the post office were brought to justice for falsifying accounting documents and embezzlement.
The situation is recognized as the most massive case of court injustice in the history of Great Britain. To date, only 93 sentences have been overturned, and thousands of people continue to expect compensation after more than 20 years. Some deputy directors were wrongfully imprisoned, and many went bankrupt. Some have since died.
A Scottish law enforcement official apologised to the victims, pointing out that the postal service had misled Scottish law enforcement. In England and Wales, most prosecutions were carried out by the postal service itself.
Tokita did not confirm whether Fujitsu will refund funds earned on the faulty Horizon system. During a hearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Business and Trade, Paul Patterson suggested that the company's employees were aware of the problems with Horizon even before 2010. The head of the postal service, Nick Reed (since 2019), could not specify the exact date when it became known about the possibility of remote access to the system.
One of the victims compared the process of getting compensation to "re-incriminating a crime." The judge stressed the need for prompt payment of compensation to victims, many of whom live in conditions of lack of funds.
The lawyer said that out of 77 wrongly convicted persons, only 3 received full compensation. Patterson apologized for Fujitsu's role in the incident, admitting that the company was involved from the very beginning.
Nick Reed acknowledged the existence of a "culture of denial" in the organization, which makes it difficult to pay compensation. The postal service expressed its intention to reduce bureaucracy in the payment process, but recognized the complexity of the situation due to the variety of compensation schemes.
