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A Fujitsu boss has told the Horizon IT inquiry he raised “serious concerns” about the “behaviour” of the Post Office investigations team earlier this year.
More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted and received criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015, as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches – with many still awaiting compensation.
On Tuesday, the inquiry examining the scandal was shown a letter dated 17 May, written by Fujitsu’s European boss Paul Patterson to Post Office chief executive Nick Read.
In it, Mr Patterson wrote: “I am writing to you directly in order to raise serious concerns that have come to my attention which indicate that the Post Office continues to pursue enforcement against postmasters and it expects (Fujitsu) to support such actions.
“To be clear, (Fujitsu) will not support the Post Office to act against postmasters.”
Mr Read responded by saying the company does not and will not undertake prosecutions against sub-postmasters as a prosecutorial body, adding there are “fundamental misunderstandings at [Fujitsu] about Post Office’s current-day culture and activities”.
The Post Office boss, who recently announced his resignation as chief executive, also told Mr Patterson that Horizon data was not being used for “civil recoveries from postmasters”.
Under the heading “criminal investigations”, Mr Patterson said: “We have become aware of a recent investigation by the City of London Police into a Post Office branch.
“The approach of (Fujitsu) is to co-operate with the police and any other third party exercising independent investigative, prosecutorial, regulatory or judicial powers. However, we are concerned by the behaviour of the Post Office investigation team on this matter.
“The team…
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