These are the men who ran Fujitsu while the computer giant’s flawed Horizon accounting system robbed thousands of postmasters of their livelihoods, liberty – and in some cases their lives.
For years, the Fujitsu fat cats pocketed generous six and seven figure salaries plus bonuses while Horizon caused untold misery for the 3,500 postmasters wrongly accused of stealing from the Post Office over a 20-year period.
As the anger over the Horizon scandal grew, so have calls for the £24bn Japanese tech giant – whose UK arm has just posted a £22m profit – to foot the bill for compensation for their victims.
About 700 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2019, and dozens of people died before they could clear their names. The scandal, highlighted in ITV’s drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, has been linked to four suicides.
Yesterday it was announced that hundreds of wrongly-convicted branch managers could have their names cleared by the end of the year, without going down the slower route of each case being considered by the Court of Appeal.
It also emerged that Fujitsu has been awarded work totalling £4.9billion since the December 2019 Court of Appeal ruling. 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.’
Michael Keegan (centre) was chairman and CEO of Fujitsu between 2015 and 2018. Pictured: Mr Keegan with his wife Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and Rishi Sunak. Mr Keegan has sought to refute any suggestion that he bears any responsibility for the Post Office scandal
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But Pierce hit back: ‘I’m sorry, I have no sympathy for her at all. The point is, Sarah, her bonus was based on figures which were predicated on a terrible injustice’
Despite the ongoing scandal, Fujitsu is still engaged in billions of pounds worth of ongoing IT contracts for government departments such as the Home Office and Ministry of Defence, and for the Post Office itself, which continues to use a newer version of the Horizon system.
One of the postmasters who lost his job in the Horizon scandal said the top figures at Fujitsu had ‘questions to answer’ and should be stripped of their lucrative pay packets and bonuses if they were found culpable.
Christopher Head, 36, from West Boldon, Tyneside – formerly the UK’s youngest postmaster – had to sell his thriving business at a loss after Horizon mistakenly showed a shortfall of £80,000 at his branch. After nightmare years of threats of prosecution and civil lawsuits, he’s been offered just 12 per cent of the compensation amount he has claimed from the Post Office.
He told : ‘Until they answer questions we can’t tell exactly how much the senior figures at Fujitsu knew about what was going on.
‘But it was happening on their watch and they must be held accountable in the same way as senior bosses at the Post Office.
‘If they are found in any way to be to blame for what happened to postmasters, then they must face the full force of the law and their salaries and bonuses should be paid back.’
Richard Christou, 79, was UK chief executive of Fujitsu from 2000 to 2004, and chairman for three years after that.
Under his stewardship Fujitsu became the UK Government’s second biggest supplier of IT services.
David Courtley, 66, held the post as CEO of Fujitsu for four years from 2004
Mr Courtley, whose house is pictured, joined Fujitsu Services as Chief Operating Officer in July 2001 and moved to the CEO position in April 2004
Duncan Tait, 57, was at the helm of Fujitsu as CEO from 2011 to 2015, then became the company’s first non-Japanese board member from 2015 to 2019. He is now chief executive of Inchcape the car dealer and lives in a £4m house in St John’s Wood (pictured)
In 2003, Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones in the ITV drama, had his Post Office contract terminated after refusing to sign-off shortfalls at his branch in Llandudno, north Wales following three years of problems.
In a later interview, when asked which aspects of his career had given him the most satisfaction, Mr Christou said: ‘Succeeding in turning around some very difficult commercial situations particularly the contract the ICL [Fujitsu] had with Post Office counters known as … Horizon’.
He retired in 2012 and now lives in Portugal, according to his LinkedIn entry.
His most recent address in London was a swanky apartment in one of the capital’s most expensive areas, Knightsbridge.
Mr Christou was succeeded as Fujitsu UK CEO in 2004 by David Courtley, 66, who held the post for four years.
Mr Courtley joined Fujitsu Services as chief operating officer in July 2001 and became chief executive in April 2004.
Under his leadership, Fujitsu Services experienced rapid growth and revenue for the financial year with profits of £153million in 2005-6 soaring 50% higher than the previous year.
Despite the growing controversy over Horizon, the company entrenched its position as the IT services provider of choice for the UK government, winning several large outsourcing contracts, including for the Inland Revenue, MoD, and large parts of the NHS.
Richard Christou, 79, was UK chief executive of Fujitsu from 2000 to 2004, and then chairman for three years after that
Mr Christou previously lived in a luxury Knightsbridge apartment in London
But a few years after leaving Fujitsu, Mr Courtley, a Derby County supporter who lists music and riding his bike to work under his hobbies, was to be affected by another scandal.
In 2012 he was abruptly let go by Phoenix IT Group after ‘accounting irregularities’ surfaced.
The company insisted that his resignation was not related to the ongoing investigation, adding that the scandal ‘is of as much concern to David as it is to the remainder of the board.’
Mr Courtley, who had joined just the year before, on a base salary of £375,000 plus benefits, was entitled to 12 months’ notice, but it was not disclosed whether he received a payoff.
He now lives comfortably in a £2m Victorian semi in north London and is a director of Mozaic, a specialised IT consultancy working largely in the insurance sector.
Roger Gilbert, 75, was CEO of Fujitsu from 2009 to 2011. In 2010, the company provoked fury for awarding ‘star’ staff with a £200k jolly to Bermuda – while most employees had their pay frozen.
More than 100 senior managers and their partners enjoyed the expenses-paid Caribbean beano over five days, featuring an award ceremony at which Mr Gilbert handed over prizes.
Shortly afterwards, the 14,000 UK employees whose pay was frozen were incensed to learn that Mr Gilbert’s own salary had doubled to £917,000 a year when he became chief executive.
Now retired, he sold a large detached property in Hertfordshire for just over £1.1m in 2019. Duncan Tait, 57, was at the helm of Fujitsu as CEO from 2011 to 2015, then became the company’s first non-Japanese board member from 2015 to 2019.
He is now chief executive of Inchcape the car dealer and lives in a £4m house in St John’s Wood, London.
Fujitsu told in a statement: ‘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.’
The most high-profile of the former Fujitsu bosses is Michael Keegan, 61, who was chairman and CEO between 2015 and 2018.
Married to Education Secretary and Tory MP Gillian Keegan, the couple live in a large £2m detached house in West Sussex, not far from Ms Keegan’s Chichester constituency.
A 2014 press release announcing Mr Keegan’s appointment hailed his 30 years of experience in the IT sector, telling readers that prior to joining the Japanese tech giant he’d held ‘senior roles at the Royal Mail Group/Post Office Limited’.
Mr Keegan has sought to refute any suggestion that he might bear any responsibility for the sub-postmaster scandal.
He’s publicly stressed that, during his time as CEO, he only made one decision related to Horizon, and that was to cancel a tender to provide a new version of the system to the Post Office.
Furthermore, Keegan has insisted he only ever had one conversation with former Post Office chief Paula Vennells, at which the affair was not discussed.
Despite the Horizon scandal, in 2018, Mr Keegan was made a ‘Crown representative’ of the Cabinet Office, working primarily with the Ministry of Defence.
Roger Gilbert, 75, was CEO of Fujitsu from 2009 to 2011
Mr Gilbert previously lived in a large house in Hertfordshire
He also sits on the advisory board of the Prince’s Trust and is a non-executive director of an IT firm called Centerprise, which in May won a £1million contract linked (controversially, given his wife’s job) to the schools rebuilding programme.
Two of the former Fujitsu bosses told that they were shocked at the treatment of the postmasters and welcomed the public enquiry.
Duncan Tait said: ‘I am appalled by the harsh treatment of the sub postmasters and fully support the public inquiry. It would be inappropriate for me to comment ahead of this.’
And Roger Gilbert told : ‘Like you and many others, I am shocked by the Post Office’s actions in prosecuting so many innocent people.
‘It is right that there is a public inquiry to investigate what happened and I am looking forward to their report which I am confident will provide much more insight than my very limited visibility of Horizon operations could provide.’
Michael Keegan has since pointed out that he served as Fujitsu’s UK CEO from May 2014 to June 2015 and that his responsibilities for the Post Office account ended when he became the Head of Fujitsu’s Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) Technology Product Business in June 2015.
He noted that the sub-postmasters did not commence their litigation against the Post Office until 2016.
A Cabinet office spokesperson said: ‘Crown Representatives go through relevant proprietary checks.’