Mike Lynch, the founder of the software group Autonomy, was a “controlling and demanding individual” and it was inconceivable that he was unaware of the fraudulent practices alleged to have been taking place at his company, the high court has heard.

The claims are included in the opening submissions of a $5bn (£3.8bn) civil claim brought against Lynch by Hewlett Packard (HP), which alleges he fraudulently inflated the value of the Cambridge-based software firm before an $11bn takeover by the US technology group in 2011.

Court documents referred to by HP at the beginning of the civil trial on Monday said Lynch took an interest in trivial details of his firm’s operations to a level that was “hard to imagine … coming to the attention of the CEO of any other large company”. This included approving a £2,659 upgrade to a graphic designer’s computer and demanding that colleagues keep him fully informed of problems within the business.

In one email, detailed in HP’s opening submissions, Lynch upbraided colleagues when a potential software deal was in jeopardy, telling his senior management team they needed to “own this” with “no F-ing abdications of responsibility or delegation. If there is a problem I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT IN A F***ING MILLISECOND from all of you.”

Profile Mike Lynch Show Mike Lynch, 53, is the Essex-born son of a nurse and a fireman who won a private school scholarship at the age of 11 and later went on to study at undergraduate and PHD level at Cambridge. His doctoral thesis remainsis among the most consulted at Cambridge and he is considered a world leader in the field of signal processing, which is key to handling data. A series of technology start-up businessess followed in the 1980s and 90s, culminating in the formation of Autonomy in 1996. The company produces software that can analyse and sort “unstructured” information from sources such as telephone calls. His success has brought prestige with it. He was named Eentrepreneur of the Yyear by the Confederation of British Industry in 1999, received an award from the World Economic Forum in 2000 and was awarded an OBE in 2006. Lynch was sacked from Autonomy in 2012, less than a year after Hewlett Packard bought the business in an $11bn (£8.3bn) deal, tha which gave Lynch a windfall of around $800m. Lynch, who is married with two daughters, has also served as a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and sat on the board of the BBC and the British Library. He stepped down as a UK government advisor last year after he wasbeing hit with criminal charges related to the Hewlett Packard deal by US authorities. Married with two daughters, Who’s Who lists his hobbies as jazz saxophone and the conservation of rare breeds, including red poll cattle kept at his Suffolk home.

The US technology group also claims that the British entrepreneur exerted control over Autonomy’s chief finance officer, Sushovan Hussain, who is a co-defendant in the civil claim.

In another email, when Hussain was attempting to take leave, Lynch wrote to his finance chief: “Thank you for your threat to take five weeks off between now and the [year end]. Please do that and you will see the consequences … Sushovan I am sick of dealing with this shit from people ... do what the fuck you like.”

This type of communication was typical of Lynch, the claimants alleged, and the entrepreneur “created an oppressive work environment in which employees felt ‘extreme pressure’ to meet revenue goals”.

HP’s opening statements also cite an email from 29 July 2009 in which Lynch demanded a sales representative “stay up all night and get this done with your team, ring whom ever you need but we are putting in the maximum proposal on time … Fail this and I have no need of people with this kind of attitude”.

The US computer group claims that after it acquired the British software firm it discovered a “deliberate fraud perpetrated by the defendants” of $5bn after false transactions had “artificially” inflated the value of the business. Autonomy became a sought-after company by developing software that can sift through complex data sets. Lynch, who earned a windfall of around $800m from the takeover, was ousted as chief executive of Autonomy in 2012, less than a year after Hewlett Packard announced the deal.

Lynch and Hussain, who are joint defendants, said Autonomy’s finances were fully audited by Deloitte and that the acquisition failed because the integration was “botched” by HP.

A spokesperson for Mike Lynch said: “Mike Lynch is pleased to finally have the opportunity to respond in court to HP’s accusations.

“There was no fraud at Autonomy. Rather, this is a case that distils down to a dispute over differences between UK and US accounting systems and will focus on the appropriate exercise of business judgments made in a particular context and time with the full knowledge and approval of numerous financial and technical experts and advisers.

“The real story is that HP, after a history of failed acquisitions, botched the purchase of Autonomy and destroyed the company, seeking to blame others. Mike will not be a scapegoat for their failures.”

Separately, Lynch faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if found guilty of US criminal charges related to the deal. The 17 charges include conspiracy and wire fraud.

In a new US indictment, filed in a San Francisco court at the end of last week, it is alleged that Lynch conspired to cover up fraud, including by destroying documents, “paying hush money” to former Autonomy employees.

Lynch strongly denied all of the allegations. A spokesperson said: “These are baseless, egregious charges issued on the eve of the trial in the UK, where this case belongs, and Dr Lynch denies them vigorously.”

Hussain was convicted of fraud related to the Autonomy acquisition in San Francisco last year, in a federal case. He has yet to be sentenced and has already said he will appeal against the conviction, but is unable to leave California and is expected to give evidence in the civil case via videolink.

The civil case, which is expected to run for nine months, continues.