ITV’s drama about the Post Office scandal shown over the Christmas break, has elevated Fujitsu to nationwide notoriety as the company that allowed its software bugs to destroy the lives and reputations of hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters, law-abiding men and women who were suddenly accused of stealing vast sums.
The drama has inspired a torrent of anger and condemnation from many, including Andy Burnham, who told LBC last week that the Post Office’s bosses were:
“guilty of treating people appallingly”.
“There is a serious injustice which we’ve all seen on our TV screens over the break,” the mayor said, making a link between the mass miscarriage of justice in this case and the treatment of victims after Hillsborough and Grenfell. He repeated his argument for a new law that would impose:
“A duty of candour – not just from the police but from all public servants, to tell the truth at the first time of asking.”
What Burnham didn’t focus on was the other major party “guilty of treating people appallingly”: Fujitsu. That might have had something to do with a trip the mayor made to Japan last month, one that he described as “our most successful trade mission yet”. The central achievement of the trip was secured at the global headquarters of Fujitsu in Tokyo, where a landmark deal was signed, a partnership that Burnham described as a “massive boost” for Greater Manchester.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester flew to Tokyo last month to sign an “exploratory agreement” with the firm for its assistance in the development of Manchester’s Investment Zone.
