Post Office threatened legal action over missing Horizon data

The revelation came to light last week during the ongoing public inquiry into the Horizon scandal.

The case, which unfolded between 1999 and 2015, resulted in the wrongful convictions of many sub-postmasters due to flawed evidence originating from Fujitsu’s Horizon accounting system.

The malfunctioning software falsely showed discrepancies in branch finances, leading to severe consequences. Some individuals experienced imprisonment, financial devastation and public shaming. Tragically, a few lost their lives as a result.

Last week, the inquiry heard that the Post Office had contemplated taking legal action against Fujitsu concerning the absence of data from its audit trail.

The legal dispute, which was eventually settled, revolved around one of the six documented instances of data missing from audits shared with the Post Office.

Paula Vennells, Post Office CEO from 2012 to 2019, had previously defended the Horizon system, relying on assurances from Fujitsu about its security.

However, the potential legal action focused on broken audit trail data identified in May 2001.

During the inquiry proceedings, Jason Beer, lead counsel overseeing the investigation, said Fujitsu had identified the missing data while performing an audit data extraction for an internal crime manager at the Post Office.

Fujitsu told the Post Office about the missing data, most of which was later recovered from backup tapes, but concerns about a breach of contract persisted.

In a submission to the inquiry, Fujitsu said, “Following further correspondence, [the Post Office] and Fujitsu agreed to settle any claims regarding the possible breaches by Fujitsu of its contractual obligations in return for a payment of £150,000.”

Paul Patterson, the European CEO of Fujitsu, appeared in front of the Business and Trade select committee on Friday. He acknowledged that Fujitsu had been aware of known or suspected issues with the audit record query (ARQ). Despite that, the Post Office relied on the records in a civil law and criminal proceeding brought against the sub-postmasters.

Despite a codified agreement ensuring the security of the audit trail, Patterson admitted that Fujitsu could make amendments into data, potentially impacting Post Office brand accounts.

Chose not to fix bugs

In a separate part of the inquiry, a former Fujitsu software developer, Gerald Barnes, told the committee last week that that Fujitsu opted not to fix critical bugs in the Horizon software, citing concerns about the prohibitive cost and time involved.

Barnes, who started at Fujitsu in 1998, provided insights into technical issues plaguing the Horizon system during the Post Office’s migration from paper-based accounting to the automated system.

In 2008 a glitch in the CABSProcess system, designed to summarise a Post Office’s transactions at the end of the day, led to balancing issues. Importantly, the system did not alert operators about the problem, making it a silent failure.

Patterson put blame on Post Office shoulders. He criticised the Post Office for not providing details of Horizon’s problems to sub-postmasters who were facing prosecutions based on Horizon data. He also told the committee that Fujitsu informed the Post Office about bugs, errors and defects in the system.

“[This is] shameful and appalling. All of the evidence should have been put in front of sub-postmasters,” he said.

Patterson apologised for Fujitsu’s role in the scandal and expressed the company’s commitment to covering associated costs, including compensation for the victims.

He noted that Fujitsu was “morally obligated” to contribute, and the extent would be determined by the outcome of the public inquiry.