Fujitsu chair resigns after ‘woman-related inappropriate conduct’

The chair of Fujitsu, the Japanese technology firm at the centre of the Post Office IT scandal, has resigned after its board became aware of his “woman-related inappropriate conduct”.

The company said on Tuesday that Hidenori Furuta had stepped down after two years in the role.

The tech firm said in a stock market filing that its board of directors “became aware of his inappropriate conduct and subsequently received a request from Mr Furuta to resign as director as of 16 June”.

Fujitsu added that it has withdrawn Furuta’s candidacy as a non-executive director at its annual ⁠shareholders’ meeting later this month.

A spokesperson said that “there was inappropriate conduct” that was “woman-related”, but gave no further details, the Financial Times reported.

It is the latest scandal concerning Fujitsu, which supplied faulty software to the Post Office in the UK, leading to thousands of post office operators being falsely accused of embezzling funds, with 900 wrongfully convicted for theft and false accounting.

The company is negotiating a settlement with the UK government, but has not yet contributed towards the £1.5bn compensation bill for victims, footed by UK taxpayers, even though it admitted it had known since the 1990s that the Horizon system was faulty.

The Horizon system is to finally be replaced at the Post Office after the management consultancy Accenture and software platform OneView Commerce won contracts to implement a new accounting system.

As Japan’s biggest IT services company, Fujitsu is expected to play a leading role in prime minister Sanae Takaichi’s efforts to get ahead in AI and reduce reliance on the US.

Furuta was elevated to chair in 2024 after serving in various roles, as chief operating officer, executive ‌vice-president and chief technology officer at Fujitsu.

He recently joined the Japan-EU Business Round Table in Brussels, according LinkedIn, together with Mikihito Saito, the chair of the Japan Business Council in Europe and senior executive vice-president at Fujitsu.

Furuta, contacted by Reuters via LinkedIn, said: “The company statement speaks for itself.”

A number of executives have lost their jobs in Japan after being accused of inappropriate behaviour towards women. They include Shinji Aoyama, an executive vice-president ​at the carmaker ​Honda, who resigned just over a year ago after an allegation of inappropriate ​behaviour during a social gathering outside ‌work.

Japan’s biggest oil refiner, Eneos, dismissed its president, Takeshi Saito, in 2023 for alleged misconduct at a social gathering while intoxicated.

The most high-profile scandal in recent years involved one of Japan’s best-known stars at a leading TV network. Masahiro Nakai, a former member of the popular boyband Smap, is alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a private dinner in June 2023 that was reportedly arranged by a senior member of staff at Fuji TV. The company, which was hit by an advertiser boycott, has since apologised.