A newly uncovered document has exposed a secret agreement between the Post Office and Fujitsu to correct accounting errors within the controversial Horizon IT system, casting severe doubt on the postal service's long-held public position.
Confidential Contract Contradicts Public Claims
The 26-page contract, dated 2006 and marked "Commercial in Confidence", reveals both parties had formal authorisation to remotely alter sub-postmasters' branch accounts. This directly contradicts repeated assertions by the Post Office during criminal prosecutions that such remote interference was impossible and that no software bugs existed which could create financial shortfalls.
The agreement stipulated that if transaction data held on Fujitsu's central database was inconsistent with branch records, a reconciliation service would "obtain authorisation from the Post Office prior to amending the centrally held transaction data." Furthermore, it detailed penalty payments of £100-£150 per faulty transaction that Fujitsu could be liable for.
"Sickening" Revelation for Victims
The discovery, made on the public website of the ongoing Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, has provoked fury and distress among victims. Former postmaster Lee Castleton, who was pursued through the courts in 2006 over an alleged £25,000 shortfall, told Channel 4 News the news made him feel "physically sick."
"They've had this document in their possession that they've never revealed," he said. "We're now talking about accounts that can be adjusted remotely, but also a contract in place for how that should be done." Castleton emphasised that disclosure of the contract at the time would have completely changed his legal defence.
He poignantly added, "13 people potentially have taken their lives because of the treatment at the hands of these companies... It's absolutely abhorrent."
Legal and Institutional Failure
Barrister Paul Marshall, who represents affected post office operators, told the BBC the document proves a "very big, recognised problem with Horizon maintaining data integrity" was known in 2006. He stated, "The Post Office, for 20 years, was saying the only explanation for shortfalls in branch accounts was postmaster incompetence or dishonesty."
This revelation suggests the Post Office proceeded with both criminal trials and a major 2019 group litigation knowing of this formal error-correction framework, while publicly maintaining the system's robustness. The scandal has led to more than 900 wrongful convictions of operators for theft, fraud, and false accounting based on phantom losses generated by the faulty software.
A Post Office spokesperson issued a fresh apology: "We apologise unequivocally for the hurt and suffering which Post Office caused to so many people." They added the organisation is now focused on cooperating with the inquiry and providing financial redress. Fujitsu declined to comment, citing the ongoing statutory inquiry.
