Fujitsu role in Britain's Post Office scandal could have severe reputational consequences, analysts say

LONDON — Fujitsu's role in the U.K. Post Office scandal, dubbed the "most widespread miscarriage of justice" in British history, has analysts wary of what the fallout could look like for the Japanese IT giant.

Between 1999 and 2015, a fault with the company's Horizon computer software used by the Post Office, a state-owned private company employing thousands of people across the country, resulted in more than 700 sub-postmasters being subjected to false prosecutions. Thousands more were driven to destitution, illness and in several cases, suicide.

The U.K.'s High Court ruled in 2019 that the Horizon software was at fault for the misreported losses at Post Office branches throughout the country, and a public inquiry was ordered by the government to take place in the following year.

However, the scandal has been re-ignited following the airing of a TV docudrama earlier this month, which showed that despite the acknowledgment, the sub-postmasters had never received adequate compensation for the financial and emotional damage inflicted.

The British government has introduced legislation to exonerate all convicted sub-postmasters and set aside £1 billion ($1.27 billion) in compensation for the victims, saying it will pursue Fujitsu if an ongoing inquiry finds the company is to blame.

Despite the furor in the U.K., Fujitsu shares are only down around 2% since the turn of the year, having suffered an initial drop after the company's European co-CEO Paul Patterson said compensating Post Office victims was a "moral obligation," before recovering over the past week.

Patterson later told U.K. lawmakers at the Business and Trade select committee on Friday that the company had "clearly let society down" and that there were "bugs errors and