Fujitsu Ltd. is under scrutiny in Britain as to whether the Japanese electronics firm should compensate post office operators falsely accused of embezzlement from the 1990s into the 2010s because of glitches in its accounting system.
The system problem, which caused the balances at postal stores to appear lower than the actual amounts and suggested the operators were stealing money, was already confirmed in 2019. Postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake said 93 convictions have since been overturned.
But a recent TV drama featuring the decades-old case encouraged many more of those involved to break their long silence and call for compensation by making new contact with lawyers.
The growing outcry prompted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to promise Wednesday to consider a new law to help clear the names of such people and provide compensation, describing the case as "one of the largest miscarriages of justice" in the country's history.
The British government has disbursed 138 million pounds ($175 million) in damages to people who were wrongly accused in the scandal, according to reports.
Amid fresh calls in Britain to reexamine Fujitsu's role in the past scandal and current government contracts with it, officials from the Tokyo-based company will testify at a House of Commons committee on Tuesday.
In Britain, Post Office Ltd., wholly owned by the government, has more than 10,000 stores nationwide that handle postal work and sell merchandise. Post Office introduced the Fujitsu accounting system, called Horizon, in the 1990s.
More than 700 people faced charges of alleged embezzlement or accounting fraud between 1999 and 2015, and at least four killed themselves after the balances displayed in the system were found to be lower than the actual amount of cash at their workplaces.
Some of the accused went bankrupt after they were required to pay the discrepancies, according to reports.
In 2019, the system failures were confirmed in a civil suit ruling.
Hollinrake told parliament Monday, regarding the government's view of possible compensation from Fujitsu, "Anybody who is shown to be responsible for this scandal should be held accountable, including by making payments into the taxpayer's fund."
Fujitsu apologized to those who were falsely accused and pledged to cooperate in the ongoing investigation in a statement, without commenting on compensation.
