Overview

• UK's Post Office Horizon scandal involved the wrongful accusation and prosecution of 3,500 branch owner-operators for alleged fraud between 1999 and 2015 due to faults in the Horizon IT system developed by Fujitsu.
• More than 900 people were prosecuted, many of whom were jailed and financially ruined, with some experiencing significant ill health, ostracism, family breakup, and in some cases, suicide.
• The scandal was acknowledged and redressed only in 2019 and 2021 when a group of post office operators won a high court case ruling that their convictions were wrongful, with Horizon at fault.
• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced a plan to pass a law to overturn the convictions of all those accused over Horizon-related fraud or theft and offer them swift compensation.
• Fujitsu, the supplier of the controversial Horizon system, has won billions in government contracts during the scandal, raising questions about government procurement processes.