Thursday 12 December 2019 3:23 pm | Updated: Thursday 12 December 2019 4:31 pm

HP accuses Autonomy boss Mike Lynch of lying in $5bn fraud trial

It's an important day for Mike Lynch's future

Hewlett-Packard (HP) today accused British businessman Mike Lynch of lying to the High Court when he gave evidence in his $5.1bn (£3.9bn) Autonomy fraud trial.

HP is suing Lynch, the founder of software firm Autonomy, and his former finance chief Sushovan Hussain, over claims they falsely inflated the company’s revenue for two years before the tech giant bought it for £8.4bn in 2011.

Laurence Rabinowitz QC, representing HP, told London’s High Court that Lynch was a “thoroughly unreliable witness, willing to lie to the court whenever this was necessary”.

“The evidence Dr Lynch gave was untrue and unsatisfactory,” he said as he presented HP’s closing submissions almost nine months after the UK’s biggest fraud trial began in March.

Rabinowitz pointed to evidence Lynch gave in July on a conversation with Brent Hogenson, the Autonomy director that blew the whistle on the alleged fraud at the company.

Lynch had told the court he had a telephone call with Hogenson in June 2010, during which the US finance chief had named the wrong-doers as Hussain and US chief executive Christopher Egan.

Today Rabinowitz said a recording of the call showed that the suspects were not named at that time.

According to court documents submitted by HP, Lynch told Hogenson during that call that they should not accuse “someone without having done the homework” and that Hogenson said he “won’t be naming any names and I won’t be accusing anyone”.

However, Lynch has argued that there was an earlier, unrecorded call in which Hussain and Egan were named.

Lawyers representing Lynch are expected to begin their closing submissions in January.

The businessman’s legal team is expected to argue that the claim is “manufactured” and that HP’s board “experienced buyer’s remorse” following the acquisition, according to court documents.

Main image credit: Getty