Citing insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, United Kingdom investigators on Monday dropped their probe of Hewlett-Packard s claims that the Palo Alto corporation was tricked into grossly overpaying for British-software firm Autonomy in 2011.
The UK s Serious Fraud Office, which looks into complex crimes, added that jurisdiction in the case has been ceded to the U.S. authorities whose investigation is ongoing. It noted that it was unable to go into further detail about its decision to drop its probe because it didn t want to undermine the US-based investigation.
HP has claimed that Autonomy s founder, Mike Lynch, and other officials misled HP about Autonomy s worth, when HP bought the software firm for $11 billion. Shortly after the purchase, it wrote down Autonomy s value by 8.8 billion.
As the SFO made clear, the US authorities are continuing their investigation and we continue to cooperate with that investigation, Hewlett-Packard said in response to the UK agency s announcement. HP remains committed to holding the architects of the Autonomy fraud accountable.
In a separate response, Lynch said he welcomed the SFO s decision to close its investigation.
As we have always said, HP s allegations are false, and we are pleased that after a two-year review of the material presented by HP, the SFO has concluded that there is not a case to pursue, he said, adding that HP now faces serious questions of its own about its conduct in this case.
Photo by Kirstina Sangsahachart, Daily News
