Fujitsu is sorry that its software helped send innocent people to prison

Enlarge / Paul Patterson, co-CEO of Fujitsu’s European division, giving evidence to the Business and Trade Committee at the Houses of Parliament, London on January 16, 2024. (credit: Getty Images | House of Commons – PA Images)

Fujitsu yesterday apologized for its role in the British Post Office scandal, acknowledging that its buggy accounting software contributed to the wrongful prosecutions of hundreds of postal employees.

“Fujitsu would like to apologize for our part in this appalling miscarriage of justice,” Paul Patterson, co-CEO of Fujitsu’s European division, said in a hearing held by the UK Parliament’s Business and Trade Committee. “We were involved from the very start. We did have bugs and errors in the system and we did help the Post Office in their prosecutions of the sub-postmasters. For that we are truly sorry.”

The committee hearing focused on possible compensation for victims of what has been called “the worst miscarriage of justice in British history.” Patterson said that Fujitsu has “a moral obligation” to contribute to the compensation for victims.