Fujitsu has taxpayer-funded official to help it secure Government contracts

Fujitsu is designated as a strategic supplier for the Government (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

The IT firm at the centre of the Post Office’s Horizon scandal has retained its status as a “strategic supplier” with an official dedicated to smoothing over its relations with the Government.

Vincent Kelly, a former executive at telecoms firm Orange, is a specially recruited civil servant attached to Fujitsu as well as three other companies.

i previously revealed how Fujitsu was granted access to priority lanes to win hundreds of millions of pounds in Government contracts despite concerns over its Horizon software.

Mr Kelly’s role – known as a Crown Representative – involves “acting as a point of focus for cross-cutting supplier-related issues” and communicating “a single and strategic view of the Government’s needs”. The contribution of Crown Representatives to securing new contracts between firms and the state has been celebrated by ministers.

The tech giant is one of 39 companies whose links with the public sector are so wide-ranging they are part of a special programme for outsourcers.

As part of the scheme, the Crown Representative – a businessman recruited to the civil service on a part-time basis – is assigned to specific firms, such as Fujitsu, to facilitate its dealings with the state.

The Government has promised to review its relationship with Fujitsu in future if the company is found culpable for the Post Office scandal which saw hundreds of postmasters wrongly convicted of theft and fraud.

But even if the firm is not granted new public-sector contracts in future it may stay on the list of strategic suppliers because of the need to monitor its complex ties with the public sector, i understands.

i previously revealed how Fujitsu has been awarded contracts through so-called “framework agreements” which allow the Government to make deals with lists of preferred VIP suppliers.

Campaigners and experts said that the firm should be excluded from the Government’s lists of preferred suppliers.

Former subpostmaster Lee Castleton, 55, who is portrayed in the ITV programme by actor Will Mellor, said he felt “very let down” after learning that Fujitsu had been given contracts through priority access lanes.

The framework system was central to the Government’s plans to combat the coronavirus pandemic and was used to secure services linked to the Test and Trace scheme. However, it has faced criticism for a lack of oversight and competition. This is separate to the VIP lane used in the PPE scandal.

MPs have called for a moratorium on Fujitsu getting any more Government contracts but No 10 has said it will not make a final decision on the company’s until after the public inquiry into the Post Office prosecutions has concluded.

The firm supplied the Horizon software to the Post Office which produced apparent evidence that hundreds of sub-postmasters had been extracting money from their branches – when in fact it was a computer error.

A Government spokesman said: “This was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history, which is why we set up an independent inquiry to establish culpability and are bringing forward legislation to make sure those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

“It is right that we do not pre-empt the conclusions of the ongoing, formal inquiry, but once the full facts are established we will consider all options to hold those responsible for this scandal to account – both legally and financially. Ahead of that, and as with all contracts, we continue to keep Fujitsu’s conduct and commercial performance under review.”