Fujitsu admits being aware of 'numerous issues' with Horizon IT system

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Fujitsu has admitted it was aware of “numerous issues” with the Horizon IT system as it prepares to give evidence for the first time on the scandal.

The comments were made in opening statements to the statutory public inquiry into the Horizon scandal last week.

Barrister Richard Whittam KC, representing Fujitsu, reiterated the Japanese technology company’s apology “for its role in the subpostmasters’ suffering”.

This marks the first time Fujitsu will face interrogation for its involvement in the scandal after previously avoiding it.

Whittam confirmed that “warehouses have been searched, databases have been processed and electronic documents from approximately 120 Fujitsu individuals have been collected”, amounting to more than 30 million records.

Post Office accused of failing to disclose over 30,000 documents to Horizon IT inquiry

However, he went on to admit that “numerous issues were identified during the acceptance process for Horizon, prior to is national rollout in 1999”, and added “these were characterised by the parties as acceptance incidents”, which included “an acceptance incident relating to branch account discrepancies”.

The company said “there have been a number of bugs, errors and defects with the Horizon system, and that, in some instances, those bugs had the potential to, and indeed, did affect the integrity of subpostmaster branch accounts”.

In the coming weeks, the IT suppliers will give evidence and face questions from the public inquiry.