British Post Office Scandal —
Software bugs were surprise from attorneys of incorrectly foundedguilty UK postal employees.
Jon Brodkin –
Enlarge / Paul Patterson, co-CEO of Fujitsu’s European department, affirms for a public query in London on January 19,2024
Getty Images | AFP
Fujitsu softwareapplication bugs that assisted sendout innocent postal staffmembers to jail in the UK were recognized “right from the really start of implementation,” a Fujitsu executive informed a public questions today.
“All the bugs and mistakes haveactually been understood at one level or not, for lotsof, numerous years. Right from the extremely start of implementation of the system, there were bugs and mistakes and problems, which were popular to all celebrations,” stated Paul Patterson, co-CEO of Fujitsu’s European department.
That goes back to 1999, when the Horizon softwareapplication system was setup in post workplaces by Fujitsu subsidiary International Computers Limited. From 1999 to 2015, Fujitsu’s defective accounting softwareapplication helped in the prosecution and conviction of more than 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses who were implicated of theft or scams when the softwareapplication mistakenly made it appear that cash was missingouton from their branches.
Some innocent individuals went to jail, while others were required to make payments to the UK Post Office to cover the expected deficiencies. So far, “only 93 convictions haveactually been reversed and thousands of individuals are still waiting for settlement settlements,” a BBC report stated.
Post Office attorneys reworded Fujitsu witness declarations
During the prosecutions, courts hearing cases versus postal workers “were not informed of 29 bugs recognized as early as 1999 in the system it developed,” The Guardian composed in a summary of Patterson’s testament today. The post stated:
When bugs were acknowledged, witness declarations from Fujitsu personnel due to be heard in court were then modified by the Post Office as it lookedfor to preserve the line that the system was working well as it pursued innocent individuals through the courts.
Paul Patterson concurred that both companies had stoppedworking the implicated. “I am stunned that that information was not consistedof in the witness declarations offered by Fujitsu personnel to the Post Office and I haveactually seen some proof of modifying witness declarations by others,” he stated.
Asked by the lead counsel of the public questions, Jason Beer KC, whether he concurred that this was outrageous, Patterson, who has worke