This isn’t its first failure, yet the tech giant is so embedded in the public sector that it seems invincible, says Sam Fowles, a barrister, author and broadcaster
Here’s how this will work:
Fuhitsu will have solid proof probably in an email that the engineer told the Post Office about the bugs and the security issues.
There will also be a reply from the Post Office telling the engineer that they don’t care.
Fujitsu are now covered because
They informed them
They were under confidentiality contracts stating they couldn’t say anything.
The reconfigured Horizon, presented by Ministers in May 1999 as a pristine, state-of-the-art
triumph, was in fact the product of a last-ditch, fourth-choice deal in which the Government
knowingly accepted a sub-optimal system; it knew Horizon had always been subject to accounting
integrity issues, both before and after reconfiguration. But too much was riding on Horizon’s much-
delayed rollout; the raft of reforms heralded in the 1999 Post Office White Paper; the credibility of the
Modernising Government agenda; the reputation of ICL; ambitions for PFI; and the priceless nerve of
Japanese investors. All of these were preconditions which New Labour needed to tease the green
shoots of its social and economic renewal.
Once the Prime Minister had made his decision in May 1999, there were to be no more doubts
voiced about the system, no more delays or dissent. Inconvenient truths pertaining to its integrity had
to be worked around and airbrushed from view. Indeed, the favourable light in which the Government
was to present the reconfiguration was one of the few bargaining chips it held for negotiations with
ICL/Fujitsu. With the exception of a brief glimpse into the system’s failings which slipped out under
cover of parliamentary privilege in 1999, Ministers and officialdom fell into line behind the
Government’s sanitised narrative of Horizon.
Here’s how this will work: Fuhitsu will have solid proof probably in an email that the engineer told the Post Office about the bugs and the security issues.
There will also be a reply from the Post Office telling the engineer that they don’t care.
Fujitsu are now covered because
The problem is they still helped prosecute people they knew were probably innocent, and confidentiality causes don’t apply in legal cases.
At the very least that’s covering up evidence.
Both the Post Office and Fujitsu knew about the bugs before Horizon rolled out. The Post Office did not want it but Tony Blair told them to suck it up, and they did.