The Post Office made a confidential deal with Fujitsu 19 years ago to fix errors in post office operators’ accounts, a document has revealed.
The document casts doubt on claims made by the postal service that they were not aware of bugs that could cause accounting shortfalls.
The 26-page agreement, made in 2006, shows both parties had authorisation to alter post office operators’ branch accounts, despite claims that it was not possible to remotely alter their balances.
The long-running Post Office Horizon scandal saw branch operators hounded for money, jailed and even pushed to suicide by the actions of the Post Office.
The revelation contradicts claims by the Post Office during criminal prosecutions that no bugs existed capable of causing accounting shortfalls. The contract between the Post Office and Horizon, which was marked “Commercial in Confidence”, said Fujitsu was liable for penalty payments of £100-£150 per faulty transaction with the Horizon IT system.
There have been more than 900 convictions linked to the scandal, which involved operators being wrongfully prosecuted due to the faulty Horizon computer system. The system showed erroneous shortfalls on accounts, which the Post Office then demanded operators cover on penalty of suspension and prosecution.
The contract, which was found on the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry’s website, says: “If the reconciliation service identifies that any transaction data held on the ‘central database’ located at the data centre is found to be inconsistent when compared to the records of the transaction that was completed at the branch … the reconciliation service shall obtain authorisation from the Post Office prior to amending the centrally held transaction data.”
Paul Marshall, a senior barrister for post office operators, told the BBC: “The Post Office conducted both the criminal trials of postmasters and the group litigation of 2019 on the basis that it knew of no substantial problems with the Horizon system.
“Yet this shows that in 2006 there was a very big, recognised problem with Horizon maintaining data integrity between Post Office branch offices and Fujitsu.
“The Post Office, for 20 years, was saying the only explanation for shortfalls in branch accounts was postmaster incompetence or dishonesty.”
Lee Castleton, a post office operator who was wrongly accused of false accounting and went to court in 2006, told Channel 4 News the revelation made his “physically sick”.
He said: “Really, you’ve got a group of people in two companies that wrote a contract for something that they’ve said repeatedly was never required. And it’s just sickening for all the distress and victimisation of the group, of all of our group. They’ve had this document in their possession that they’ve never revealed.”
When asked whether it would have made a difference to his case if it had been disclosed at the opening of the legal action against him, he said: “Of course, absolutely, because this makes it a completely different question. We’re now talking about accounts that can be adjusted remotely, but also a contract in place for how that should be done.”
He added: “You know, 13 people potentially have taken their lives because of the treatment at the hands of these companies. It’s disgusting to think that even now, two decades on, we’re finding new documents, new documents that are intrinsic to what was going on. You know, it’s absolutely abhorrent. It’s disgusting.”
A Post Office spokesperson said: “We apologise unequivocally for the hurt and suffering which Post Office caused to so many people during the Horizon IT scandal.
“Today, our organisation is focused on working transparently with the ongoing public inquiry, paying full and fair financial redress to those impacted, and establishing a meaningful restorative justice programme, all of which are important elements of the ongoing transformation of Post Office.”
A Fujitsu spokesperson said: “These matters are the subject of forensic investigation by the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry and it’s not appropriate for us to comment while that process is ongoing.”
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