Japanese firm Fujitsu is once again in the spotlight as victims of the Post Office scandal question what role it played. More than 900 Post Office branch managers were convicted when faulty accounting software made it look as though money had gone missing from their sites. That software, named Horizon, had been developed by Fujitsu.
A senior Fujitsu executive will be questioned by MPs next week. So how did a Japanese company, generally known to Brits as a maker of laptops, become embroiled in one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in UK legal history?
It may be difficult to believe, but in Fujitsu’s home market, hardly anyone has heard of the Horizon scandal. Japan’s mainstream media didn’t report on it until this week.
“Horizon? What’s Horizon?” was the reaction of a former company president in Tokyo when the BBC asked him about it in 2022.
This is a person who had worked at the firm for nearly four decades.
The current president, Takahito Tokita, has turned down our multiple interview requests since 2022, most recently this week, even when I asked for a written comment he may wish to make to the victims whose lives were turned upside down.
The Horizon scandal saw some sub-postmasters attempt to plug huge shortfalls with their own money, after IT errors made it appear that thousands of pounds were missing. Some even re-mortgaged their homes.
Hundreds ended up with criminal convictions for false accounting and theft, and some went to prison. Many were financially ruined and have described being shunned by their communities. Some have since died.
On Friday, Fujitsu’s Japanese headquarters told the BBC: “Fujitsu regards this matter with the utmost seriousness. The current statutory Inquiry involves the investigation of complex and sensitive events that have unfolded over many years.
“Our UK subsidiary has been co-operating with the Inquiry and remains fully committed to supporting the process. Out of consideration for the ongoing investigation, Fujitsu will refrain from further comment for the time being.”
To understand Fujitsu’s role, let’s go back to its takeover of the British firm International Computers Limited (ICL) – which developed the Horizon software – in the 1990s.
The relationship between ICL and Fujitsu goes back decades, and the ways in which both operate are quite similar.
In the 1970s, the Japanese government was trying to counter the dominance of America’s IBM, and provided 57bn yen of financial support to three giant technology alliances, one of which was Fujitsu.
In the UK, the Wilson government was doing just that by forming ICL.
With the might of the government behind them, Japanese firms went on a shopping spree in the 1980s, encouraged by the favourable exchange rate.
That was when ICL was having financial issues at home. It held several UK government contracts, as the government had a policy that every computer over a certain size was bought from the company. But the firm was struggling to keep up with its international competitors, and by 1981 it had lost £18.7m.
Fujitsu and ICL were a perfect match. The takeover allowed Fujitsu to have an outsized presence in the UK, as ICL’s strong ties to the government often meant that it was the only bidder for government contracts.
