The Japanese company Fujitsu is responsible for Programming The error, which led to the conviction of hundreds of workers in the British General Postal Service between 1999 and 2015, admitted, for the first time since the scandal broke, more than two decades ago, that it had a “moral obligation” to contribute to the financial affairs. Compensation of victims.
Speaking before a parliamentary inquiry in the House of Commons in Westminster in London, Paul Patterson, director of the Asian technology company's European branch, assumed that Fujitsu was aware of the company's problems. Programming Horizon, which, however, assisted the executive leadership of Post Office Limited in pursuing employees suspected of theft and embezzlement of funds.
“Fujitsu would like to apologize for its role in this egregious miscarriage of justice. We have been involved from the beginning. We had mistakes and missteps.” [no Horizon] From the beginning we help the post office to process Sub-postmasters,” Patterson revealed.
I believe there is a “moral obligation” on the company to contribute to compensating victims of the Post Office scandal, Fujitsu chief executive Paul Patterson told MPs.
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He said: “I believe that there is a moral obligation on the company to contribute,” stressing, however, that “there are many parties involved in this farce,” noting that the exact value of Fujitsu’s contribution to compensation (which is estimated to reach a total value close to 1.16 billion euros) It can only be determined after detection Investigation results Required in 2020 by the government.
More than 700 postmasters (referred to as Sub-postmasters) of the British public company were wrongfully convicted of theft, fraud and falsification of financial accounts because, for years, Programming Horizon incorrectly showed that money was missing from the bank accounts of several UK postal departments.
In 16 years, the number of convictions linked to this scandal reached more than 900, and only 93 convictions were overturned – the first in 2021, after the Post Office admitted, two years ago, that computer malfunctions had occurred, and reported that it was available to compensate those affected. Victims.
Among those convicted, some served prison sentences. There were cases of dismissal, bankruptcy, social and family discrimination, and there were reports of suicides. But some of the old people died.
TV series
The topic returned strongly to the British public debate at the beginning of this year against the backdrop of the television series Mr. Bates v. Post officefrom ITV.
The first result of the program, which broke attendance records, was a petition signed by more than a million people, prompting Paula Fennels, a former postal company manager, to give up a state honor.
Then, the same Conservative Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, promised a bill to overturn convictions and compensate victims, setting a precedent that many British jurists consider dangerous, because it involves political power overturning decisions made by the courts.
Speaking to MPs on Tuesday, Nick Read, the current Postmaster General, revealed that the company opens between 55 and 75 cases a year against staff it considers suspected of misappropriating funds.
“It's a very extraordinary number,” which, according to Reid, should have rung bells at the top of the post office and asked: “What's going on?”
No senior postmaster has been held responsible for the scandal, which, according to the Prime Minister, is “one of the biggest judicial miscarriages in the history” of the country. Even those who had their convictions overturned and tried to obtain compensation after the Horizon device was found to be defective found themselves mired in red tape.
Joe Hamilton, one of the victims of the scandal, admitted to MPs: “I felt like I was being treated like a criminal again.”
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