Fujitsu Executives’ Million-Pound Paychecks Amid Post Office Horizon Scandal

The Post Office Horizon scandal, a debacle that lasted for over two decades, has left a trail of devastation in its wake. The scandal, which involved a flawed computer system that generated unexplained errors, unfairly blamed sub-postmasters for losses, and led to over 900 prosecutions, has been a subject of intense scrutiny and controversy. At the heart of this saga was Fujitsu, the Japanese multinational information technology company that built and maintained the Horizon system. This article delves into the lucrative paychecks of Fujitsu’s top executives during the Post Office Horizon contract.

Fujitsu UK, a subsidiary of Fujitsu, paid its top executives a staggering £26 million over the 25-year period since the Horizon contract began. The exact figures for the salaries of Fujitsu’s UK bosses are not listed in the company’s accounts. However, the accounts of Fujitsu’s European subsidiaries, Fujitsu Services Ltd (FSL) and its European holding company Fujitsu Services Holdings Ltd (FSHL), do report the “total emoluments” of their highest-paid directors. These figures are likely to represent the pay packets of the chief executives.

The highest-paid director for FSL and FSHL during this period earned millions. For instance, during the tenure of Keith Todd, who was in charge during the troubled genesis of ICL’s IT system for the Benefits Agency and Post Office Counters in the late 1990s, the highest-paid director received £412,000. Todd also held options to buy 1.75 million shares, which could have been worth millions if ICL’s planned launch on the stock market went ahead. In 2022, Todd gave evidence to the Horizon Inquiry and revealed that there was a possibility the Post Office would cancel the project in 1999, which could have resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs at Fujitsu. In response, Fujitsu Services Ltd paid £4.4m as compensation for loss of office to an unnamed director or directors, likely Todd.

Richard Christou, who succeeded Todd as UK chief executive, described winning the Post Office contract for ICL as “his proudest moment.” During his tenure from 2000 to 2004, the highest-paid director earned a total of £3.1m. Christou is expected to appear in front of the Horizon Inquiry later this year.

David Courtley, who was chief executive of Fujitsu’s European services business from 2004 to 2008, received as much as £2.36m a year, reaching a total of £9.15m. In 2009, FSHL paid £1.59m in compensation for loss of office, presumably to Courtley. Courtley left Fujitsu to lead a company called Phoenix IT, which was embroiled in an accounting scandal, and he left 14 months later. He now runs a small IT consultancy called Mozaic.

Roger Gilbert, who served as chief executive and then chairman of Fujitsu UK and Ireland, took over in 2009, the year that the first major media stories about the Post Office scandal began to emerge. In his first year, the highest-paid director of FSHL received £917,000, and £725,000 the following year. However, Gilbert told the BBC he was not the highest-paid director and did not receive anything like this amount. He moved to the role of chairman in 2011 and retired the following year.

Duncan Tait, who held several senior positions at Fujitsu from 2011 to 2019, was appointed Fujitsu’s UK & Ireland chief executive in 2011 and later became Fujitsu’s chief executive of Europe, Middle East, India and Africa in 2014. His time at the top of the firm covered the period when the Horizon affair developed from a few media articles and documentaries into a national scandal. Internal legal advice warned the Post Office that a Fujitsu employee was giving false evidence in court, and the sub-postmasters launched their legal action. Tait was revealed as the Fujitsu source who told Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells that Horizon was “like Fort Knox” – a claim she repeated in a letter to Parliament in 2020. Tait later claimed the remark referred to its ability to withstand cyber-attacks. He stepped down in 2019, the same year the sub-postmasters won their case at the High Court. The following year, FSHL paid £2.61m to an unnamed director in compensation for loss of office, presumed to be Tait. Tait took a new position as group chief executive of the car dealer Inchcape, where he was paid more than £4m in 2022 and is due to give evidence to the next phase of the Horizon Inquiry.

Tait expressed his regret for the harsh treatment of the sub-postmasters and postmistresses and wanted to do all he could to support the inquiry. He acknowledged that this was a terrible miscarriage of justice and, like others at Fujitsu, was sorry for the damage that had been done to the sub-postmasters and postmistresses’ lives and any role that Fujitsu played in that.

Current chief executive of Fujitsu Europe, Paul Patterson, appeared in front of MPs and the Horizon Inquiry this year and admitted to MPs on the Business Select Committee that there had been “bugs, errors and defects” with Horizon from the start and apologized for his firm’s actions.

In conclusion, the Post Office Horizon scandal has left a trail of destruction and injustice in its wake. The flawed computer system unfairly blamed sub-postmasters for losses, leading to over 900 prosecutions. While sub-postmasters were chased through the courts for tens of thousands of pounds they didn’t owe, based on false data from Fujitsu’s flawed computer system, Fujitsu’s top executives were paid millions. The exact figures for the salaries of Fujitsu’s UK bosses are not listed in the company’s accounts, but the accounts of Fujitsu’s European subsidiaries report the pay packets of their highest-paid directors, which are likely to represent the paychecks of the chief executives. These executives earned millions during the Post Office Horizon contract, while sub-postmasters suffered the consequences of the flawed system. It is essential that the Horizon Inquiry provides much-needed insight into what happened and holds those responsible accountable.