The FT article additionally mentioned the Put up Workplace, which used prosecution powers available to private corporations within the UK, obtained 700 of the 900 convictions. The opposite convictions got here in instances introduced by Scottish prosecutors. The scandal may lead to reforms of the non-public prosecution system that lets organizations take individuals to court docket.
Bugs Had been Understood “Manner Again to 1999”
Earlier this week, Patterson told UK Parliament members that “Fujitsu want to apologize for our half on this appalling miscarriage of justice. We have been concerned from the very begin. We did have bugs and errors within the system and we did assist the Put up Workplace of their prosecutions of the sub-postmasters. For that we’re really sorry.”
Patterson additionally instructed Parliament members that Fujitsu has “an ethical obligation” to contribute to the compensation for victims.
Patterson testified at this time in a unique setting, answering questions from legal professionals representing victims. A kind of legal professionals, Flora Web page, asked Patterson, “Did no one traditionally make that fairly apparent connection between very poor code going out into operation after which very poor information popping out and thru the litigation help service?”
Patterson answered, “Whether or not individuals made that connection or not, what could be very evident… is that that connection and understanding about what was happening and the place was it, was understood by actually Fujitsu and definitely understood by Put up Workplace method again to 1999. It is all about what you do with that info… that may be a query for this inquiry.”
Put up Workplace Minister Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, told the BBC that his “primary precedence” is to “try to get compensation and get solutions for individuals.”
“You’ve got had marriages fail, individuals commit suicide, an horrendous affect on individuals’s lives,” he mentioned. “It is completely affordable that the general public ought to demand individuals are held to account and that ought to imply prison prosecutions wherever potential.” The UK authorities additionally has plans for a new law to “swiftly exonerate and compensate” individuals who have been falsely convicted.
This story initially appeared on Ars Technica.
