Fujitsu Japan remains tight-lipped on the Post Office scandal

Update 14 January: This is an update of a piece originally published in October 2022 and comes ahead of the questioning of a senior Fujitsu executive by MPs.

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