英法人トップが議会証言へ　郵便会計システム冤罪事件―富士通

　【ロンドン時事】英国で多数の郵便局長らが現金を盗んだとして横領罪などで起訴された英史上最大規模の冤罪（えんざい）事件で、下院ビジネス貿易委員会は１１日、欠陥のある会計システムを納入した富士通英国法人のポール・パターソン最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）を証人として招くと発表した。パターソン氏は富士通本体の執行役員も務めている。
　１６日に予定されている委員会で証言するのは、パターソン氏のほか、郵便事業会社ポスト・オフィスのニック・リードＣＥＯや、郵便事業を所管するホリンレイク企業・市場・中小企業担当相、被害者の元郵便局長ら。
　事件は１９９９～２０１５年に起きた。富士通の会計システム「ホライゾン」を導入した全国の郵便局で窓口の現金残高と会計記録が一致せず、局長ら７００人以上が詐欺や横領などの罪で起訴された。（2024/01/12-06:27）

Paul Patterson, CEO of a British unit of Fujitsu Ltd., is set to testify at a House of Commons committee meeting Tuesday over a high-profile case in which numerous post office managers in Britain were wrongly charged with cash theft.
   The false accusations resulted from a flawed accounting system supplied by the Japanese technology giant. Patterson also serves as a corporate executive officer at the Japanese parent company.
   Other witnesses at the Business and Trade Committee meeting will include Nick Read, CEO of Britain's mail service company, Kevin Hollinrake, British minister for enterprise, markets and small business, and former post office managers who were falsely charged, the British lower house committee said Thursday.
   They will be questioned "on what more can be done to deliver full, fair and fast compensation for victims of the scandal, which has been labeled the worst miscarriage of justice in British history," the committee said.
   In the case that took place between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 people, including post office managers, were falsely charged for fraud or embezzlement following the discovery of discrepancies between cash balances at counters and accounting records at post offices that introduced Fujitsu's Horizon accounting system.