By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Mike Lynch, the founder of the
software firm sold to Hewlett-Packard last year in a deal
tainted by accusations of accounting fraud, said he would defend
the company's accounts to U.S Federal investigators.
HP confirmed in a filing late on Thursday that the U.S.
Department of Justice was investigating Autonomy's books.
The PC and printer maker bought the British company for $11
billion last year to lead its push into the more profitable
software sector.
Autonomy did not deliver the growth expected, resulting in
Lynch's departure earlier this year.
But worse was to come last month when HP wrote off some $5
billion of the company's value and accused its former management
of accounting improprieties that inflated its value.
The Silicon Valley company said it had passed information
from a whistleblower to the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC
and Britain's Serious Fraud Office.
"On November 21, 2012, representatives of the U.S.
Department of Justice advised HP that they had opened an
investigation relating to Autonomy," it said in the filing.
"HP is cooperating with the three investigating agencies."
Lynch launched a robust defence of his track record almost
immediately after HP made the accusations.
He said on Friday that he was still waiting for a detailed
calculation of HP's $5 billion writedown of Autonomy's value and
a published explanation of the allegations.
"Simply put these allegations are false, and in the absence
of further detail we cannot understand what HP believes to be
the basis for them," he said in a statement.
"We continue to reject these allegations in the strongest
possible terms. Autonomy's financial accounts were properly
maintained in accordance with applicable regulations, fully
audited by Deloitte and available to HP during the due diligence
process."
Lynch said he had not been approached by any regulatory
authority, but he would co-operate with any investigation and
looked forward to the opportunity to explain his position.
HP has refused to concede to Lynch's demands for more
information about the allegations.
"While Dr. Lynch is eager for a debate, we believe the legal
process is the correct method in which to bring out the facts
and take action on behalf of our shareholders," it said in
response to an open letter from Lynch last month
"In that setting, we look forward to hearing Dr. Lynch and
other former Autonomy employees answer questions under penalty
of perjury."
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