UK seeks urgent talks with Fujitsu on Horizon scandal

Business secretary Kemi Badenoch has requested urgent talks with Fujitsu on compensation for sub-postmasters caught up in the Post Office Horizon scandal.

An inquiry is ongoing into how hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted due to faulty software.

Once the inquiry has "established all the facts", then the government will act, a spokesperson said.

It comes after Fujitsu Europe's boss said the firm has a "moral obligation" to provide compensation.

Ms Badenoch made the request in a letter to the global chief executive of Fujitsu, Takahito Tokita.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the enquiry would establish responsibility for the scandal.

"The inquiry does need to establish the facts, but we're keen to be as prepared as possible to act at the appropriate point," the spokesman said.

"It's important that we don't do anything that would jeopardise our approach and we will set up these discussions so that we can move as quickly as possible, but it's right that we establish culpability fully," he added.

Over a 15-year period, more than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud, based on faulty software which made it appear as though money was missing from their branches.

The Post Office also forced at least 4,000 branch managers to pay back cash based on the flawed data.

The inquiry into the scandal began in 2021, and is chaired by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams.

It heard from Fujitsu staff on Wednesday who were concerned they would be "hauled over the coals" after realising the Post Office was using "manipulated" audit data to investigate sub-postmasters.

John Simpkins, a team leader in Fujitsu's software support centre (SSC), accepted that the team he worked in "downed tools" after learning the Post Office was using data that had "relevant" material missing in its criminal investigations.

The filtered data did not include information about what a Post Office counter can sell, how much it would sell it at, and the steps taken during transactions.

He told the inquiry: "The SSC decided we're not happy doing this filtration if it's going to be used in court cases and we stopped."

Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC then asked: "Why weren't you happy?"

Mr Simpkins replied that the team "thought that if we were making the filter choices, they may want someone to come up and explain exactly why in a court case."

The Metropolitan Police has launched a criminal probe into the scandal, with its Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley telling LBC on Wednesday that the investigation will run until at least 2026.

"We're now working with police forces across the country to pull together what will have to be a national investigation," he said, adding that "there are tens of millions of documents to be worked through".