The justice secretary is holding talks to shut down convictions for people caught in the post office scandal amid errors caused by IT from a company based in Bracknell.
The Horizon computer system at the heart of the scandal was provided by Japanese tech giant Fujitsu, which has its UK headquarters in Lovelace Road.
Revealed in the ITV docudrama ‘Mr Bates vs the Post Office’, accounting errors in the Horizon system led to hundreds of post office employees being wrongly prosecuted for fraud, theft and false accounting.
Now, Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, is holding talks with judges in an effort to clear the names of hundreds of post office employees who were wrongfully convicted in the Horizon scandal.
READ MORE: Mr Bates vs the Post Office: former Barkham sub-postmaster portrayed in ITV show
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said the discussions are under way as the Government considers ways to overturn the convictions, including possible legislation.
Mr Stride said ministers “intend to move very quickly” to resolve the issue after the miscarriage of justice was brought into the spotlight by the ITV docudrama.
At least 700 employees known as sub-postmasters were prosecuted by 2015 based on evidence from the faulty Horizon computer system.
The software was provided by Fujitsu, which obtained a contract to provide the accounting system in 1999.
Journalist Emily Maitlis, interviewing David Davis MP on the News Agents Podcast, asked how Bracknell-based Fujitsu had stayed out of the headlines.
She said: “I am embarrassed to say that I had only heard the word ‘Horizon’ in connection with the Post Office, I hadn’t realised that a massively successful and hugely profitable company was right at the bottom of this. How was this possible?”
Mr Davis, who has been campaigning on behalf of the sub-postmasters for several years, replied: “Well it’s because, as Fujitsu has said itself, it is very, very good at managing its own PR and has kept itself out of the story and has made legal overtures when anyone mentions it.”
He added that Fujitsu should be frozen out of future government contracts until key questions about its role in the saga are answered.
Mr Davis the Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden said: “I would certainly suspend any possibility of new contracts until that is over.”
Fujitsu has since faced calls for it to either punish those responsible or leave Bracknell.
READ MORE: 'Fujitsu has brought shame on Bracknell': Resident petition after Post Office scandal
A petition by longtime resident Mark John on Change.org has been signed by 141 people.
A spokesperson for Fujitsu did not answer calls for the company to move out of the town.
Instead, the spokesperson said: “The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory Inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge.
“The Inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters’ lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering.
“Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the Inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it.
“Out of respect for the Inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.”
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