SILICON VALLEY STAR TO TAKE STAND IN AUTONOMY TRIAL

FORMER HP boss Meg Whitman is expected to take the stand in the firm’s multi-billion-pound High Court battle with Autonomy founder Mike Lynch.

It is thought the 62year-old ( pictured) will appear as a star witness for HP in June, as part of a fraud trial due to start in London this morning.

She is one of Silicon Valley’s best-known female leaders and took over as HP chief executive just months after its £8.5bn takeover of Autonomy.

HP later wrote off most of Autonomy’s value and ousted Lynch, accusing him of cooking the books to make his former firm appear more valuable, which he has denied.

However, the pressure on Lynch, 53, ramped up over the weekend as US prosecutors levelled fresh criminal charges against him of money laundering, destroying documents and paying ‘hush money’ to influence court proceedings. Lynch’s lawyers dismissed the claims as ‘baseless’.