Fujitsu, the Japanese group behind the Post Office's fault-ridden Horizon software system, has apologised and said it will contribute to the financial redress for victims, which is estimated to reach £1 billion.
Appearing in front of a panel of MP's, Paul Patterson, Fujitsu's Europe chief executive, said: “We are truly sorry”.
He acknowledged there was a “moral obligation for the company to contribute” to redress for sub-postmasters prosecuted by the Post Office for financial discrepancies that turned out to be caused by the Horizon IT system.
“We were involved from the very start, we did have bugs and errors in the system and we did help the Post Office in the prosecution of sub-postmasters,” Patterson said.
Following recent calls from ministers and others for the company to should some of the compensation burden, Patterson said the "right place" to determine what contribution Fujitsu should make "is when our responsibility is very clear".
A public inquiry is underway but is not expected to conclude until later this year.
The Post Office is managing two compensation routes: the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) and the Overturned Convictions Scheme, with the government responsible for a third scheme, with total offers of compensation totalling more than £138 million said to have been made to around 2,700 postmasters so far.
Compensation is currently being funded by the taxpayer, as the Post Office is owned by the state, while Royal Mail was spun off in 2012 and is now called International Distributions Services PLC (LSE:IDS).