Gov not working with Post Office scandal tech company

Sunday 21 January 2024

The Government has confirmed that it is not engaged in any projects with the Japanese technology firm at the centre of the Post Office scandal – but has previously purchased £50k of hardware from the company.

Responding to a question in the States this week, Assistant Chief Minister Alex Curtis said that the Government is not engaged in any current projects with Fujitsu, nor does it have a record of project delivery with the company.

The question was asked by Deputy Rob Ward amid the controversy surrounding Fujitsu's involvement in the UK's Post Office scandal.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted between 1999 and 2015 due to evidence from faulty IT software developed by the Japanese tech giant.

Pictured: Fujitsu is the technology company which developed Horizon, the faulty IT software at the centre of the Post Office scandal.

Their case is in the spotlight following the ITV drama 'Mr Bates vs the Post Office' which aired on 1 January 2024.

This week, Deputy Curtis acknowledged that between 2005 and 2015, the Government of Jersey purchased £50,000 worth of hardware such as scanners and laptops from Fujitsu.

However, he said that this was not part of a larger contractual relationship with the company.

In Guernsey, charity stalwart Sarah Griffith recently returned her MBE "in solidarity with the sub-postmasters". 

Paula Vennells – who was CEO of the Post Office at the time of the scandal – was appointed as CBE for services to the Post Office and to charity in the 2019 New Year's Honours, despite ongoing legal action against Post Office launched by 555 sub-postmasters in 2017.

As a result of this, Ms Griffith expressed her disillusionment with the honours system and stated that she no longer wished to be a part of it.

She shared a public post on Facebook with a copy of the letter she addressed to Sir Chris Wormald who sits on the committee overseeing the Honours system.