Fujitsu gained £1.4 billion in new contracts after submit workplace scandal
Fujitsu acquired an estimated £1.4billion price of offers with Treasury-linked organisations because the High Court dominated that there had been quite a few bugs and errors in its Horizon software program.
The Japanese communications agency is about to have acquired greater than £3.4 billion by way of contracts working with Treasury-linked organisations since 2019 regardless of its position within the Post Office scandal, MPs have discovered.
More than £2 billion price of contracts have been agreed earlier than 2019 and remained lively within the following interval, the Commons Treasury Committee mentioned.
The influential group of MPs final month wrote to organisations together with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (BoE) to demand particulars of their agreements with Fujitsu.
Publishing the responses on Saturday, the committee mentioned that each one three have spent appreciable sums with Fujitsu Services Ltd or Fujitsu Global-owned entities.
Fujitsu is about to have pocketed greater than £3billion in contracts with Treasury-linked organisations regardless of its involvement within the Post Office scandal
Over 700 subpostmasters have been wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after Fujitsu’s Horizon software program made it appear as if cash was lacking from their branches
Pictured: ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office paperwork the scandal
Toby Jones led the collection’ solid because the subpostmaster Alan Bates
HMRC has awarded the corporate eight contracts price £1.39 billion because the ruling in 2019, whereas an extra six contracts pre-dating the ruling remained lively after 2019 however have since ceased.
The FCA agreed offers price round £630 million courting again to 2007 which continued to run after the High Court judgment, and nonetheless maintains six contracts price a mixed whole of round £9 million.
The Bank of England confirmed it had one contract price £417,000 from 2019 which expired on August 9 2020.
The committee had requested all organisations whether or not Fujitsu’s position within the Horizon scandal was thought of in the course of the tendering course of and whether or not they thought of ending the offers in gentle of the scandal.
But it mentioned the one response it had acquired about doable termination had come from the FCA, which confirmed it thought of winding down a contract with the agency as a consequence of poor efficiency however determined to retain its providers.
The FCA is an impartial non-governmental physique however reviews to the Treasury.
Committee chairman, Tory MP Harriett Baldwin mentioned: ‘We have unearthed some info which, I consider, goes past what is thought by the Cabinet Office.
‘I hope this can assist transparency and scrutiny across the position of Fujitsu as a public sector provider.
‘As set out in a number of the letters we acquired, Fujitsu was typically accessed by way of pre-approved authorities frameworks run by the Crown Commercial Service.
‘The inquiry will run its course and it’s welcome information that Fujitsu have agreed to pay in the direction of the compensation that wrongly convicted postmasters are receiving.’
Hundreds of subpostmasters throughout the UK have been wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after Fujitsu’s defective accounting system made it appear as if cash was lacking from their branches.
In 2019, the High Court dominated that the software program had contained ‘bugs, errors and defects’, main the scandal to change into often called probably the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British historical past.
Scrutiny of Fujitsu, Government and the Post Office has intensified in current weeks after the saga was dramatised in ITV’s Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.
The four-part collection grew to become probably the most watched programme of the yr early final month, with its first episode attracting 9.2million viewers.
Alan Bates, performed by Toby Jones within the collection, was one of many over 700 harmless subpostmasters and labored in a store in Llandudno, north Wales.
A statutory inquiry looking for to ascertain the complete information of the scandal, together with the roles performed by totally different organisations, is ongoing.
Fujitsu has provided its ‘deepest apologies’ to victims of the scandal and mentioned it could contribute in the direction of compensation funds for these wrongly convicted.
Bosses have indicated the agency will cooperate absolutely with the inquiry and wait till it nears its conclusion earlier than understanding the suitable quantity.
In the ultimate episode of the collection, viewers noticed Mr Bates take his case all the way in which to the Royal Courts of Justice
Alan Bates giving proof to the Parliamentary Business and Trade committee
A Government spokesperson mentioned: ‘The influence the Horizon scandal has had on postmasters and their households is completely horrendous, and it’s essential that one thing like this could by no means occur once more.
‘That is why we’ve got launched a statutory inquiry into the scandal to unravel what went flawed, in addition to offering compensation for these affected.
‘We welcome Fujitsu’s determination to pause bidding for work with new Government prospects till such time because the inquiry concludes. Ahead of that, and as with all contracts, we proceed to maintain Fujitsu’s conduct and business efficiency beneath assessment.’
A HMRC spokesperson mentioned: ‘HMRC works with a whole bunch of IT companions – large and small – and all of our contracts are publicly out there by way of Contracts Finder.
‘The measurement and complexity of our IT property signifies that a number of companions are concerned in constructing and sustaining virtually all of our techniques and providers.’
