Fujitsu boss tells Sky News about ’emotional’ first face-to-face meetings with Post Office victims | Business News

The head of Fujitsu’s European arm personally apologized to former sub-postmasters.

Speaking after the meetings in London, Paul Patterson told Sky News he was “very grateful for his time”.

He described “a very good conversation” held in private.

“It’s not for me to get into that now – it was actually quite exciting to hear,” he said.

When asked why it took him seven months to find them, despite promising to return in January, he replied: “It took a bit of time because I was trying to put together a lot of things that we couldn’t get done on time.

“I’m very grateful to them for giving me time today.”

It’s the first time someone from the company has met in person with former deputy postmasters since hundreds of people were wrongly accused of theft.

More than 700 were processed by the Mail between 1999 and 2015.

Fujitsu developed the faulty Horizon computer system, which was responsible for erroneous accounting deficiencies.

They also supported the Post Office in its lawsuits against sub-postmasters.

Julie Beisner, a former deputy postmaster who met with Patterson, said he told her he would be “super transparent” in the future.

“There was a lot of listening and writing,” she said, “but Fujitsu was part of the problem – Fujitsu, so far, is not part of the solution.”

“He apologized, he said he had great regard for postmasters – he apologized – but they are empty words, what we need is positive action.”

Earlier this year, Fujitsu admitted that it had a “moral obligation” to contribute to compensation for victims.

Patterson told Sky News: “We made that comment in January that we will contribute to redress.

“And we will do so. Our current position is that the investigation will end.”

Read more on Sky News:
Four shocking moments from the Correios investigation
New compensation scheme for Correios victims

Mark Kelly, another former deputy postmaster who was wrongly accused of theft, said Patterson’s apology “gave some relief” but he also wants to see action.

He said possible future meetings were discussed to discuss ways to “move forward”.

In particular, Mr. Kelly said he raised the idea of ​​Fujitsu giving money to help victims’ children, not just subpostmasters.

Albert Harwood, partner at Howe & Co, which has represented former subpostmasters since 2013, said the meetings seemed “positive”.

“It’s a matter of waiting and seeing now – to see if the words match the actions,” he said.

“[Mr Patterson] it gave the impression that they are open-minded.

“This was an opportunity for Fujitsu to meet with sub-postmasters and gave them a different perspective on where they will go now in the future.”