Thursday newspaper round-up: National Lottery, Mike Lynch, Morrisons

(Sharecast News) - The Czech billionaire whose company takes over running the UK national lottery from Thursday is still in business with the Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom, nearly two years after promising regulators he would sever ties with Russia. The Gambling Commission awarded Allwyn the lucrative 10-year licence to run the lottery, estimated to be worth up to £100bn in sales, in March 2022. - Guardian Mike Lynch, the technology tycoon once lauded as the UK's answer to Bill Gates and now facing criminal fraud charges in the US, is suing the Serious Fraud Office. Lynch, who was extradited to the US last year to face trial over allegations he duped Hewlett-Packard into overpaying when it struck an $11bn (£8.6bn) deal to buy his software firm Autonomy in 2011, has filed a data protection claim against the SFO in the high court in London. - Guardian

A senior member of the Barclay family faces a petition from a leading private bank to declare him personally bankrupt, in the latest legal drama for the owners of The Telegraph. According to High Court documents, Alistair Barclay, 34, is alleged to be in default on £946,754 of borrowing from Investec, which only offers bank accounts to individuals with net wealth of more than £3m. - Telegraph

The new boss of Morrisons has started to invite shoppers to board meetings and has been holding customer "round tables" in stores as part of a plan to "re-energise and reshape" the troubled supermarkets chain. Rami Baitiéh, who joined as chief executive in November, admitted that Morrisons had "not been on peak form" since the pandemic and said he would reveal his new strategy for the business in March. - The Times

The competition regulator has started an investigation into a drugs company formerly run by the brother of Nasser Hussain, the ex-England cricket captain, over its supply of iron deficiency treatments to NHS patients. The Competition & Markets Authority said it was investigating suspected anti-competitive conduct by Vifor Pharma. - The Times