Fujitsu handed £3.6billion in Government contracts on Rishi Sunak's watch - AFTER a court ruled its botched Horizon IT system was at the heart of the Post Office scandal

The IT firm at the heart of the Post Office scandal has been handed government contracts worth billions on Rishi Sunak’s watch, official documents show.

Fujitsu has been awarded work totalling £4.9billion since a December 2019 Court of Appeal ruling that its Horizon software had ‘bugs, errors and defects’ that were responsible for financial errors blamed on hundreds of sub-postmasters.

Some £3.6billion of that has come since February 2020, when Mr Sunak became Chancellor and later Prime Minister.

The analysis of data compiled by Tussell, carried out by the Financial Times, comes as MPs demand the firm is barred from any more public work.

Former Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi, who has campaigned for sub-postmasters, told LBC: ‘I think that should cease immediately. Fujitsu should not be awarded any contracts at all until they have actually come forward with what remedy corporately, the current CEO, chairman, board are going to do to remedy this.

Fujitsu has been awarded work totalling £4.9billion since a December 2019 Court of Appeal ruling that its Horizon software had ‘bugs, errors and defects’ that were responsible for financial errors blamed on hundreds of sub-postmasters.

It came as it was revealed Post Office managers are being forced to trust the IT firm at the heart of the Horizon scandal to clear their names – because it also runs Britain’s criminal records system.

‘As well as then looking at the historic injustice. So there are two bits to this for Fujitsu, is a remedy today that they need to come forward with, and historic remedy.’

It came as it was revealed Post Office managers are being forced to trust the IT firm at the heart of the Horizon scandal to clear their names – because it also runs Britain’s criminal records system.

Victims who were wrongly convicted of fraud and theft described it as ‘perverse’ and ‘another slap in the face’ last night as they try to piece their lives back together.

They also vowed to bring down the Japanese tech firm Fujitsu by exposing the Post Office scandal in its home country, where a traditional ‘culture of shame’ can destroy firms. Fujitsu bosses will answer questions from MPs on the business and trade committee next Tuesday about the scandal.

Ministers are under pressure to address the miscarriage of justice suffered by hundreds of sub-postmasters, as public anger over the Horizon IT scandal saw former Post Office boss Paula Vennells hand back her CBE.

It comes as the spotlight also turns on IT giant Fujitsu, after its faulty accounting software Horizon helped lead to the conviction of more than 700 Post Office branch managers.

Since 2012, the company has been awarded almost 200 contracts worth billions, with growing questions about why the Government has not severed ties with the firm in the wake of the scandal.

The list of 197 deals won by Fujitsu since June 2012, as compiled by Tussell, includes a nearly £2.4billion contract for the Horizon system itself, with a £36million extension to keep the system running until 2025.

According to data compiled by the Government procurement analysts, Fujitsu’s deals include providing IT services to schools in Northern Ireland (worth  485million) and infrastructure used by HM Revenue & Customs.

In October 2022, Fujitsu was awarded a contract worth up to £5million to work on the UK’s new emergency alert system

In October 2022, Fujitsu was awarded a contract worth up to £5million to work on the UK’s new emergency alert system.

The system, which is designed to warn the public of life-threatening situations such as extreme weather, was tested in April last year.

But users of the Three mobile phone network said they did not receive the test alert due to what was suspected to be a technical glitch.

Fujitsu signed a £48million deal in 2022 to maintain the Police National Computer, which stores details of all convictions and cautions, and fingerprint and DNA data. In 2021, an error in the system led to the loss of 413,000 records of police evidence.

Postmasters whose convictions are overturned can ask the Criminal Records Office to expunge their records, but Fujitsu is responsible for removing the data.

Chris Trousdale, 41, who was left with PTSD after Horizon wrongly reported £7,800 was missing from his post office in North Yorkshire, said: ‘Fujitsu has never been properly held to account. It’s perverse that we have to rely on them to remove our names from the criminal records database.’

Bosses at Fujitsu have been called to answer questions from MPs on the Business and Trade Committee next week, after an ITV drama on the scandal fuelled public attention on the issue.

A Fujitsu spokesman told MailOnline: ‘The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge.

‘The inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters’ lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering.

‘Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it.

‘Out of respect for the inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.’