New analysis of the accounts of Fujitsu UK by the BBC shows that over the past 25 years, the company paid more than £26m to its top executives since the start of the controversial Horizon contract with the Post Office. The report also reveals that more than £11m was paid to former directors for loss of office during that period. The flawed Horizon computer system was blamed for generating unexplained errors, leading to more than 900 sub-postmasters being prosecuted. Ultimately, the system was blamed unfairly on the sub-postmasters rather than the system itself, leading to ruined lives and reputations.
The accounts show that while Duncan Tait was UK manager, the highest-paid director earned £2.5m, but the salary of the UK bosses wasn’t publicly reported. Despite this, Fujitsu has apologized for the scandal and said it will contribute to compensation. The situation was further compounded by the Horizon system being built by now-renamed Fujitsu, then called ICL, generating false data and misleading accusations of sub-postmasters’ wrongdoing.
Former Liversedge Post Office director Alison Hall, whose conviction was overturned in 2021, called the situation “disgusting,” adding, “I don’t know how they sleep at night. How they can pay themselves when they knew all this time there were bugs in the Horizon system, and it was their fault.” The report also reveals that Fujitsu held contracts worth £3.4bn with the Treasury, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority, and HMRC from 2019, although it has claimed it will no longer participate in bids for public sector contracts unless specifically asked to while the statutory inquiry unfolds.
The accounts of ICL, now known as FSHL, which later became Fujitsu’s European subsidiary, show its highest-paid director’s total pay. It has not been publicly stated, but given Todd’s title as then-chief executive of ICL, it is highly likely that he was the highest paid director in that year. He held options for 1.75 million shares, valued at millions of pounds if the stock market launch went ahead. The Horizon Inquiry will have disclosed how Todd warned the British government that hundreds of jobs were at stake if the Post Office’s troubled ICL project was canceled in January 1999. Fujitsu paid out £4.4m the following year as compensation for loss of office for an unnamed director or directors.
Richard Christou, the credited lawyer-turned-executive who saved ICL, took over from Keith Todd as UK CEO after his departure. Christou earned a lot of praise after winning the Post Office contract for ICL. An account of FHSL from 2000 to 2004 and 2009 lists him as the executive chairman. In those years, the highest-paid director accumulated a total of £3.1m. Christou is expected to testify in front of the Horizon Inquiry this year.
David Courtley, who became CEO of Fujitsu’s European services business in 2004 and held the position until 2008, followed Christou. The highest-paid director in those two years was not disclosed, but this data solidifies the pattern of high earnings while sub-postmasters were unfairly and erroneously prosecuted
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