The head of Fujitsu’s European division has acknowledged that the Horizon IT software, which was implicated in the wrongful conviction of numerous subpostmasters for fraud, exhibited flaws from an early stage.
Paul Patterson disclosed his lack of precise knowledge regarding when the company’s executives first became aware of the software’s problems.
During his testimony to the Business and Trade Committee of MPs, Mr. Patterson stated:
“I cannot specify an exact month or year. It was evident that there were bugs and errors in the system from a very early point.
I am aware that there were bugs and errors present during the initial rollout; it’s common in large IT projects to encounter some bugs and errors, especially of this magnitude.
The critical aspect is how we handle such information. Did we communicate these issues to the Post Office? Yes, we did.”
Both Mr. Patterson and Nick Read, the CEO of the Post Office, have shown support for the Government’s initiative to overturn the convictions of the affected subpostmasters.
Fujitsu apologises over ‘miscarriage of justice’
A Fujitsu executive has issued an apology for the company’s involvement in the Post Office controversy, which he referred to as a “grave miscarriage of justice” while addressing MPs.
Paul Patterson, the director of Fujitsu’s European operations, informed the Business and Trade committee that employees might have been aware of issues in the Horizon IT software prior to 2010.
“Fujitsu deeply regrets our role in this grave miscarriage of justice. We have been involved since the beginning.
There were indeed bugs and errors in the system, and we assisted the Post Office in their legal actions against the sub-postmasters, for which we are profoundly sorry,” he stated.
When questioned about the staff’s awareness of the software problems before 2010, Mr. Patterson initially expressed uncertainty but later conceded, “my instinct tells me yes” upon further questioning.
In response to inquiries about Fujitsu’s ethical standards, he remarked, “I believe we are an ethical company. The Fujitsu of today is significantly different from what it was in the early 2000s.”
