Autonomy in the Spotlight
March 13, 2013
Keep in mind that I don’t have a dog in the fight or a horse in the race. I am struck by the flurry of interest in the Hewlett Packard dust up.
The most recent excitement concerns the Serious Fraud Office’s looking into the sale by Autonomy to Hewlett Packard. HP precipitated the situation because it bought Autonomy. The Board of Directors kicked tires and wrote a check with some help from their bankers for $8 to $11 billion. The number keeps changing.
The most recent twist is that the Guardian newspaper in London reported on March 12, 2013, that the UK’s Serious Fraud Office may have a conflict of interest. Ah, only in merrie old Englande. You will want to read the story “Conflict of Interest May Prevent SFO Investigating Autonomy.”
The UK’s corruption agency, dubbed the “Seriously Flawed Office” after being forced to abandon its high-profile case against financier Robert Tchenguiz, announced on Tuesday morning that it may have a conflict of interest preventing it from pursuing Autonomy directors for alleged accounting irregularities. The SFO has a £4m contract, with annual payments of £664,098, to use Autonomy’s software.
But if the software doesn’t work what then? Perhaps an IT person from SFO could be called to provide some information. The HP money was for the UK’s leading software company. How eager will those in the UK be to discuss the intricacies of enterprise software in a forum which is not exactly information technology savvy.
I assume that a government entity in the UK not using Autonomy’s software will pick up the investigation. Given the broad market penetration of Autonomy, candidates for the investigation may be asked to volunteer their services. Norway has an experienced team in place with some experience in search related probes as well.
Last time I was in Slough, I thought I saw a city office which had an investigative team.
Stephen E Arnold, March 13, 2013
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