Fujitsu Admits to Decades-Long Bugs in Horizon System

Company's European boss labels omission of known system defects in prosecution evidence as 'shameful and appalling'.

• Fujitsu's European boss, Paul Patterson, admitted to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry that the Horizon system had bugs, errors, and defects since its inception in 1999.
• Patterson expressed shock that these known issues were not included in the witness statements used to prosecute hundreds of sub-postmasters over nearly two decades.
• Patterson also revealed that some references to these bugs, errors, and defects were edited out of evidence 'by others', a move he described as 'shameful and appalling'.
• Fujitsu has a history of failing to deliver on its UK contracts but rarely faces consequences. In 2011, Fujitsu was fired from a £6.2bn project to revamp an NHS IT system after repeatedly failing to achieve its objectives.
• Despite its history of failure, Fujitsu’s influence spreads throughout the public sector. It provides major IT systems to, among others, the Ministries of Defence and Justice, HMRC, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

30 Articles

Ars Technica Sky News The Register The Guardian The Guardian Evening Standard Sky News The Telegraph Evening Standard Evening Standard The Register The Telegraph Evening Standard The Telegraph Sky News The Telegraph The Telegraph Evening Standard The Economist Evening Standard Evening Standard The Register BBC Evening Standard The Telegraph Sky News Sportskeeda The Telegraph The Telegraph The Guardian