The company behind the Post Office Horizon scandal should be barred from Government contracts as it has not paid any compensation to victims, MPs said.
Fujitsu is ‘yet to contribute a penny’ to the £1.5million redress bill for the sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted, they said.
The Business and Trade Committee (BTC) said the company should not continue to benefit from taxpayers’ money.
In a report, its chairman, Liam Byrne, said: ‘Thousands of victims are still waiting for fair redress, while the processes designed to help them are too often slow, bureaucratic and retraumatising.
‘That is simply unacceptable after one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history.
‘Worse, Fujitsu has yet to contribute a penny to the nearly £2 billion redress bill, even as it continues to benefit from public contracts.
‘That cannot continue.
‘It is simply wrong that taxpayers are covering the costs for Fujitsu’s sins while Fujitsu is still profiting from taxpayers-funded contracts.’
The Post Office has paid £2.5bn to Fujitsu – including more than £600m since deciding to seek an alternative to the flawed Horizon software
In January 2024, Fujitsu announced a self-imposed moratorium on bidding for new Government contracts.
However, it continues to supply its IT system to the Post Office and also to Government departments through a number of contracts.
The BTC called for an expansion in this moratorium as the company continues to bid for public contracts that do not come under these terms.
The Post Office Horizon scandal is regarded as Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice after hundreds of people were wrongly prosecuted for theft and fraud.
Faulty software run by Japanese firm Fujitsu wrongly suggested money was missing from branch accounts.
The scandal – which took place between 1999 and 2015 – led to widespread anger after being brought to the public’s attention in a hit ITV drama.
Following an outcry, it was announced that victims would be awarded compensation.
So far, more than 11,500 claimants have received payments worth approximately £1.48billion.
The total bill is expected to rise to around £2billion once legal and administrative costs are taken into account.
Yet the company behind the software is yet to contribute to the bill and has not yet agreed to a figure. Its failure to even offer an interim amount is ‘unacceptable’, the BTC said.
In the report, the BTC also said it had found ‘serious structural failings’ in the compensation process.
Thousands are still waiting for compensation, it said, with many victims still facing delays, inadequate offers, and administrative processes that ‘retraumatise’ them.
A spokeswoman for Fujitsu said: ‘We continue to work with UK Government to ensure we adhere to the voluntary restrictions we put in place regarding bidding for new contracts while the Post Office Inquiry is ongoing, and are engaged with Government regarding Fujitsu’s contribution to compensation.’
The committee also said that there was emerging evidence that Horizon’s predecessor Capture may have had similar flaws to Horizon.
It said that this may have contributed to unsafe convictions and that the current number of cases may be the ‘tip of another iceberg’.
‘Parliament must act quickly to quash these convictions and ensure that every victim finally gets the justice they deserve,’ the committee added.
A compensation scheme for sub-postmasters who were forced to repay shortfalls from the faulty accounting system Capture was launched last year.
A spokesman for the Post Office said: ‘We welcome the scrutiny of the committee and its commitment to ensuring full, fair and timely redress is paid to those harmed during the Horizon scandal.
‘Progress has been made with 87per cent of eligible Horizon Shortfall Scheme applications having received an offer and £882 million paid through the scheme.
‘We are processing applications as quickly as possible to bring resolution to those who have applied.’
Tory MP Dame Harriett Baldwin, the shadow postal affairs minister, said: ‘It is shameful that thousands of sub-postmasters are still waiting for justice while taxpayers are footing the entire bill.
‘Fujitsu has rightly acknowledged its role in the Horizon scandal, yet it has still not contributed a penny towards the £2 billion redress cost.
‘Ministers must urgently set out what steps they are taking to recoup money from Fujitsu so the company pays the price for this miscarriage of justice.’