Latest news with #LordArbuthnot
The Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Fujitsu ‘kicking can down the road' on compensation, says Post Office campaigner
Fujitsu are 'kicking the can down the road' on compensation for its role in the Post Office scandal, a leading campaigner has told Parliament. Conservative peer Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, who played a pivotal role in exposing the outrage, accused the Japanese tech giant of holding out with a view to reducing the amount it would ultimately have to pay. He argued the only way to change the under-fire company's attitude would be for the Government to stop awarding it contracts. Despite its involvement in the Post Office debacle, the firm has continued to secure multimillion-pound deals with Whitehall, bankrolled by the taxpayer. Fujitsu has already acknowledged it has a 'moral obligation' to contribute to compensation, pending the outcome of the public inquiry led by Sir Wyn Williams. The firm has come under renewed pressure after the publication of the first part of Sir Wyn's final report. It found around 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted and convicted after Fujitsu's defective Horizon accounting system made it appear that money was missing at their Post Office branches. Some victims were sent to prison or financially ruined, others were shunned by their communities, and some took their own lives. The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after ITV broadcast the drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which highlighted the scandal. Sir Wyn said around 10,000 people are eligible to submit compensation claims following what has been dubbed as the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history. Speaking in Parliament, Lord Arbuthnot said: 'This matter has taken place over many years, under Labour ministers, Lib Dem ministers, Conservative ministers, 'We should all, frankly, hang our heads in shame.' He added: 'I went along to The Oval last week to listen to Sir Wyn give his excellent report, and he used a telling phrase about Fujitsu, namely that they were kicking the can down the road. 'That's exactly what they are doing. 'The longer they think they can stave off paying a single penny towards the victims of this matter, the less they think they will have to pay. 'Does the Government recognise that the only way we can change that behaviour is to stop giving them contracts?' Responding, business minister Baroness Jones of Whitchurch said: 'I must pay absolute tribute to him for all of his involvement in this running scandal over many years, and for helping to bring the scandal to light.' She said the Government was in 'active dialogue' with Fujitsu on the issue of compensation. The company has said it will not bid for contracts 'with new Government customers' until the Post Office Horizon inquiry concludes. However, this still leaves it open to tender for work with existing Whitehall clients or 'where there is an agreed need for Fujitsu's skills and capabilities'. Latest figures show a further 12 new deals had been struck with the company over the last year, in addition to extensions of existing contracts. The Government has said the majority are for services already provided by Fujitsu and were put in place to ensure continuity of services. Lady Jones told peers: 'The extent of Fujitsu's role on the scandal is not fully known, and therefore we feel it would be inappropriate for the Government to take further action until we have all parts of the inquiry before us.' A Fujitsu spokesperson said: 'We have apologised for, and deeply regret, our role in subpostmasters' suffering. We hope for a swift resolution that ensures a just outcome for the victims. 'We are considering the recommendations set out by Sir Wyn in volume one of the inquiry's report, and are engaged with Government regarding Fujitsu's contribution to compensation.'
Telegraph
17-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
HMRC seeks to extend contracts with company behind Post Office scandal
HMRC is seeking to extend two contracts with the beleaguered IT firm at the centre of the Post Office scandal. Fujitsu's faulty Horizon software led to the wrongful prosecution of more than 900 sub-postmasters by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015. However, the tax authority has sought ministerial approval to extend two highly lucrative contracts currently valued at more than £330 million with the Japanese firm, just weeks before the inquiry into the scandal is due to produce its first report. It comes more than a year after Fujitsu wrote to the Cabinet Office to say it would not bid for new government contracts during the inquiry unless it was asked. When approached by The Telegraph about the extensions, a Fujitsu spokesman said the firm continued to adhere to the restrictions it had put in place. Lord Arbuthnot, who campaigned for the Horizon victims as a Tory MP, called any extension of Fujitsu government contracts 'truly wrong'. Meanwhile a former sub-postmistress who was sent to prison while pregnant because of Fujitsu's faulty IT system, said extending such contracts was 'an insult to victims and the inquiry itself'. HMRC, which recently admitted to losing £49 million in a series of phishing attacks on taxpayers, has sought ministerial approval to extend two contracts – one for its data centre operations and project services and another for hosting more than a dozen applications on a virtual platform through a virtually managed environment (VME) support contract. These contracts were initially valued at £52 million and £168.8 million, respectively. However, in written evidence to the Treasury select committee, then chaired by Harriet Baldwin, HMRC went on to cite higher figures – £78 million for the data centre operations contract and £253 million for the VME Support Contract. It is not known the exact sum the taxman has proposed to pay to extend the two contracts, the first of which expired at the end of March. The second will come to an end this month. The Telegraph can reveal that HMRC officials have sought ministerial sign-off in order to finalise both deals. Lord Arbuthnot said: 'I think it is truly wrong. [Fujitsu] helped the Post Office prosecute sub-postmasters even though Fujitsu knew well of the flaws in the software on which the sub-postmasters were being prosecuted 'And they told everybody that they couldn't remotely change the sub-postmasters' accounts, even though they themselves were doing it and knew they were doing it. 'If that was an individual doing things like that they would be facing many years in prison, and for the Government to extend contracts to someone who really ought to be behind bars seems to me to be quite wrong. 'Fujitsu has also not yet paid a penny towards the redress that sub-postmasters are getting and they're trying to minimise the hundreds of millions of pounds that they really ought to be paying.' In January last year, Paul Patterson, the chief executive of Fujitsu's European arm, told MPs at a business and trade committee hearing that his firm had a 'moral obligation' to contribute to compensation for victims of the scandal. Seema Misra, who was eight weeks pregnant when sent to prison for theft and false accounting at her old branch in West Byfleet, Surrey, said: 'It's terrible, especially when the whole country knows this is a firm at the forefront of the scandal. 'The international company ruined people's lives and HMRC shouldn't be thinking about renewing the contacts at this point.' Mrs Misra, 50, who was awarded an OBE this year for services to justice, said: ' Fujitsu has a lot to answer for, and instead of holding them to account, they are just extending contracts. It's a real insult, not just to victims but to the inquiry itself, to do this before the chair has produced any part of his report.' A Government source said: 'We inherited these contracts from the previous government. Extending them would be for a limited time on strict terms whilst we remove Fujitsu from government systems securely. If the previous government had acted earlier, we would not be in this position. 'We must never forget the lives ruined by the Horizon scandal, and no amount of redress can take away that pain. But justice can and must be done. This government is determined to hold those responsible to account, and will continue to make rapid progress on compensation and redress. 'Since we took office we have more than quadrupled the amount of redress paid to the victims and in March the business secretary, Johnny Reynolds, met with Fujitsu to begin the process of talking to them about paying compensation.' A Fujitsu spokesman said: 'We continue to work with the UK Government to ensure we adhere to the voluntary restrictions we put in place regarding bidding for new contracts while the Post Office inquiry is ongoing.' Former postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake said: 'Fujitsu has already admitted corporate responsibility for this national scandal and the biggest miscarriage of justice in modern history. 'The least Labour could do is secure the interim payment that we pushed for whilst in office before pressing on with these multi-hundred million contracts. 'Anything less would be another betrayal of postmasters and the British taxpayer.'
