Shamed firm Fujitsu is STILL allowed to bid for Government contracts

The technology firm behind the Post Office IT scandal is still securing millions of pounds in Government contracts despite not having paid a penny in compensation to the sub-postmasters.

Fujitsu has been added to a new list of suppliers who can bid for lucrative deals despite its role in the Horizon outrage, it has emerged.

Among its many contracts is a £61 million deal to run the HMRC system that processes millions of self-ᴀssessment tax returns.

It comes despite new Chancellor John Healey’s vow to ‘buy British’ in a major overhaul of procurement rules.

He said that every pound spent would support British jobs in an interview with the Sun on Sunday. Yet the Japanese supplier is able to bid for public sector contracts.

The Horizon scandal – which took place between 1999 and 2015 – is regarded as Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice after hundreds of people were wrongly prosecuted for theft and fraud.

Software run by the firm wrongly suggested money was missing. Despite this, it has raked in more than £500million in taxpayer-funded contracts since ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, about the campaigning sub-postmaster, Alan Bates, who exposed the scandal, aired.

Although it apologised and promised to ‘contribute’ to compensation, Fujitsu has not paid victims a penny.

The plight of the sub-postmasters was widely brought to the attention of the British public following the release of ITV’s Mr Bates Vs. The Post Office

However, last week, the company was added to a list of approved suppliers for nearly £15 billion of Government contracts, called the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 7 framework.

Post Office Horizon victims face waiting 5 MORE years for justice as police say they need millions

This comes despite the company saying it would not bid for new government contracts until the Horizon inquiry publishes its final report, expected in September.

Lee Castleton, a former sub-postmaster who was prosecuted by the Post Office and declared bankrupt, said Labour should stop awarding new contracts.

‘As always with all of these contracts. Fujitsu told the world they would not bid for new business while the Post Office scandal still hung in the air,’ he said. 

‘They should be held to that. Until there is resolution for all the victims Fujitsu should not be allowed to bid for new contracts. The taxpayer just pays over and over again while Fujitsu have walked away from promises.’

Liam Byrne, chair of the business and trade committee, said: ‘The failures of Fujitsu’s Horizon system, compounded by Fujitsu’s corporate conduct and the Post Office’s insтιтutional failings, led to the greatest miscarriage of justice in British history… Yet, astonishingly, it has not paid a single penny – not even as a gesture of good faith.

‘Despite claims that it has stepped back from bidding for new public contracts, it continues to receive a steady flow of taxpayers’ money.

‘If anyone needed further proof that public procurement in Britain is broken, this is it. The new Prime Minister must make radical procurement reform an early priority, with a far stronger presumption in favour of backing British companies.’

Harriett Baldwin, shadow business minister, said: ‘The Government should use every lever to ensure sub-postmasters are compensated as quickly as possible.’

A Fujitsu spokesman said: ‘We are proud to build on our track record of delivery for HMRC, having successfully provided data centre infrastructure, IT equipment and operating software for more than 20 years.

‘We continue to work with UK Government to ensure we adhere to the voluntary restrictions we put in place regarding bidding for new contracts. Our conversations with Government regarding our contribution to compensation are ongoing.’

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘We follow all relevant procurement regulations when awarding suppliers onto our commercial agreements.’