Fujitsu approved for new national security contracts amid Post Office Horizon scandal
The company at the centre of the Horizon scandal was approved for new contracts to handle top-secret military documents, spyware and warship technology only five months ago, The Telegraph can reveal.
Fujitsu, the scandal-hit Japanese tech giant, was one of 15 firms approved in October to handle “information assets that directly support or inform the national security of the UK”, giving it access to government contracts worth millions of pounds.
The decision came during a public inquiry into the company’s failings and only three weeks after ministers said that wrongfully convicted postmasters had “suffered significant financial losses and an overwhelming impact on their lives” because of its Horizon software.
MPs said the “revelatory” discovery of the contract should be examined by Parliament, amid concerns that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is still being awarded to the firm.
The company has said it will not seek new government contracts during the Post Office inquiry, which is examining the conviction of more than 700 people because of problems with its system across a 16-year period.
However, Alex Burghart, a Cabinet Office minister, has said that the Government will still award contracts to Fujitsu if the work involves “specialist skills we require”.
The company has already been placed on the approved list for new national security contracts, which allows it to work on a range of highly classified government projects marked as “secret or top secret”.
Despite Fujitsu’s decision not to apply for new contracts, the Government’s approval of the company in a framework agreement means it can still be handed future work.
The agreement in October authorises Fujitsu to provide technology for intelligence agencies and armed forces, including computers, mobile phones, CCTV cameras, radios and video-conferencing equipment.
The “top secret” classification is given only to information that, if compromised, “could cause exceptionally grave damage” including the “widespread loss of life” or a major threat to national security.
The decision to award the contract came almost four years after a High Court ruling that there was a “material risk” that “bugs, errors and defects” in the Horizon software were responsible for the prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters.
Harriett Baldwin, the chairman of Parliament’s Treasury committee, said that the Government should use the contract in compensation negotiations with Fujitsu.
“As the Treasury committee showed when we gathered information on Fujitsu contracts at the entities we scrutinise, Fujitsu is embedded in many parts of our Government,” she said.
“This further investigation by The Telegraph is revelatory and I hope it will strengthen the Government’s negotiating position over Fujitsu’s contribution to the compensation bill.”
Mark Francois, a Conservative MP on the defence committee, said it was “totally inappropriate” for the company to work on top-secret material.
“There is more than one IT supplier in the world and we should not be awarding any major IT contracts to Fujitsu until their degree of culpability, or otherwise, has been fully established by the public inquiry and appropriate compensation agreed,” he said.
“This contract, however sensitive, should be immediately reviewed, including by the relevant select committee. Anything less is a direct insult to all those innocent sub-postmasters and their families.”
The Government established the public inquiry into the scandal that began hearing evidence in January 2021, and ministers announced in September last year that those affected would receive £600,000 in compensation.
Several of those prosecuted under false accusations of theft have since taken their own lives, while others have lost their jobs and homes.
Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office minister, said at the time that the Government “recognises that these postmasters have suffered gravely in relation to the Horizon scandal, and for too long, so should be able to settle their claims swiftly if they wish”.
Fujitsu bosses have since apologised to the victims of the scandal, offering to pay into the Government’s compensation fund under a “moral obligation” to those affected.
The level of compensation to be paid by Fujitsu is under negotiation with ministers.
A government spokesman said: “The impact the Horizon scandal has had on postmasters and their families is utterly horrendous, and it is crucial that something like this can never happen again.
“That is why we have launched a statutory inquiry into the scandal to get to the bottom of what went wrong, as well as providing compensation for those affected.
“We welcome Fujitsu’s decision to pause bidding for work with new government customers until such time as the inquiry concludes.
“Ahead of that, and as with all contracts, we continue to keep Fujitsu’s conduct and commercial performance under review.”
A Fujitsu spokesman said the company “continues to work very closely with the Cabinet Office to ensure that the guidelines that we have voluntarily put in place are being followed appropriately”.
