Japanese tech large Fujitsu is dealing with rising stress from U.Okay. political quarters over its position in a scandal that noticed a whole bunch of submit workplace homeowners prosecuted for accounting discrepancies.
However as Fujitsu has emerged as a number one protagonist in a saga that has endured for almost a quarter-of-a-century, the federal government has continued to present the Japanese tech large contracts value billions of kilos as one among its strategic suppliers, even after a U.Okay. court docket discovered Fujitsu’s accounting software program to be defective and unreliable.
The British Publish Workplace Scandal was thrust again into the general public consciousness final week following U.Okay. broadcaster ITV’s four-part serialization, Mr. Bates vs. The Publish Workplace, which recounts how greater than 700 sub-postmasters (Publish Workplace franchisees) have been wrongfully prosecuted for fraud, false accounting and theft over a 15-year interval, with many imprisoned, shedding their livelihoods and dealing with chapter.
As issues finally transpired, the “balancing” errors within the sub-postmasters’ books have been because of a defective IT system that had been launched by the federal government in 2000 to digitalize social profit funds. The software program, dubbed Horizon, was developed by Worldwide Computer systems Restricted (ICL), a British firm that got here below full Fujitsu possession in 1998, earlier than being subsumed by the Fujitsu model in 2001.
Marketing campaign
A longstanding marketing campaign to safe justice for sub-postmasters that had been convicted was established in 2009, with alliance members arguing that Horizon was responsible for the monetary discrepancies. A protracted, controversy-strewn unbiased personal inquiry closed in 2015 with the Publish Workplace itself concluding that there was no system-wide IT issues, main the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance to kick-off authorized motion, culminating with a £58 million settlement in December 2019 — and a Excessive Court docket ruling that the Horizon system wasn’t sturdy or dependable.
For the reason that begin of this yr, the British Publish Workplace Scandal has dominated headlines and public dialog within the U.Okay. That it has taken a tv drama to generate this stage of consideration, when the entire episode has been lined extensively within the information media for a few years, is probably a narrative in itself. However there are actually renewed requires Fujitsu to face justice, with Member of Parliament (MP) and former Residence Secretary Priti Patel publicly calling for Fujitsu — and the Publish Workplace — to be “held to account.”
Politicians have additionally requested firm officers to take part in an proof session in Parliament subsequent week, with the chair of the Commons Enterprise and Commerce Choose Committee, Liam Byrne MP, saying that it’s “important that Fujitsu confess how they bought it so flawed,” questioning how the corporate has been in a position to proceed taking public sector contracts.
Certainly, regardless of all of the furor lately, the federal government awarded 107 contracts value £4.5 billion to Fujitsu between January 2020 — after a U.Okay. court docket had already conveyed its misgivings over Fujitsu’s software program — and the tip of 2023, in line with information offered to information.killnetswitch by public sector market intelligence firm Tussell. The latest contract was for a Northern Eire Training Authority, which inked a £485 million deal simply three weeks in the past for Fujitsu to assist a brand new College Administration System (SMS).
However extremely, £2.4 billion of those funds have been awarded for the Publish Workplace’s Horizon system itself, with a £36 million extension signed simply two months in the past to maintain issues operating till March, 2025. The Publish Workplace says it had deliberate to transition to a brand new cloud-based infrastructure, however that it had met vital technical challenges and has needed to stay with Fujitsu to handle its on-premises infrastructure.
What’s clear from these previous 10 days is that no matter investigations have been already ongoing into the scandal, Fujitsu now will come below larger scrutiny — and all it took was a TV dramatization to get the general public and politicians to actually care.
“It’s clear that Fujitsu faces severe questions that demand a response,” Jonathan Reynolds, Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Enterprise and Commerce, mentioned in Parliament this week. “Whether it is discovered that Fujitsu knew the extent of what was occurring, there must be penalties that match the size of the injustice.”
information.killnetswitch has contacted Fujitsu to remark for the story. Will probably be up to date when and if the corporate replies.
