Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Fujitsu will contribute to the compensation of sub-postmasters affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal, according to the head of its European division.
Paul Patterson said there was a “moral obligation for the company to contribute” to redress for sub-postmasters prosecuted by the Post Office using data from the Japanese company’s faulty Horizon IT system.
He told MPs on Tuesday: “We were involved from the very start, we did have bugs and errors in the system and we did help the Post Office in the prosecution of sub-postmasters.”
The UK government has set aside £1bn in compensation for more than 4,000 people affected, including over 700 people who were prosecuted by the state-owned Post Office between 2000 and 2014.
Last week Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced unprecedented legislation to exonerate the convicted sub-postmasters en-masse.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lord James Arbuthnot, a Tory peer and member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, told MPs that he hoped that the company would “accept that they have played a part in the devastation that has been visited on the sub-postmasters”.
He added: “They might also accept that they should play a part in the redress sub-postmasters need now.”
Both were giving testimony to the House of Commons business and trade select committee.
This is a developing story