Donald Trump is seeking “vindication” over allegations he took part in “perverted” sex acts and made bribes to Russian officials, a UK court has been told.

The former president of the United States, 77, is bringing a data protection claim against a consultancy founded by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, and is seeking compensation for distress.

Steele, who previously ran the Secret Intelligence Service’s Russia desk, was the author of the so-called Steele dossier which included allegations Trump had been “compromised” by the Russian security service, the FSB.

At the start of a two-day hearing on Monday, the UK’s High Court was told Trump is bringing his case over two memos in the dossier which claimed the former president had taken part in “sex parties” while in St Petersburg and engaged in “golden showers” with prostitutes in Moscow.

Hugh Tomlinson KC, for Trump, described the allegations as “egregiously inaccurate” and said the property tycoon wants to give evidence in the London court to prove they are false.

The barrister said the “now-notorious Steele dossier … contained shocking and scandalous claims about the personal conduct of President Trump” and included allegations he paid bribes to Russian officials to further his business interests.

In written submissions, Tomlinson said Steele’s consultancy Orbis Business Intelligence is accused of unlawfully processing Trump’s personal data, causing him “serious distress and reputational damage”.

“President Trump begins this case because he seeks a vindication of his legal rights … that the statements in these memoranda are false,” he told the court.

The court heard Trump accepts Orbis is not responsible for the publication of the dossier – as it was leaked to and published by BuzzFeed – but claims his data was processed by the consultancy.

Lawyers for Orbis asked for Trump’s claim to be thrown out, telling the court it was “brought for the purpose of harassing Orbis and Mr Steele and pursuing long-standing grievances”.

“This claim is bound to fail on limitation grounds and because any reputational damage, and any resulting distress, allegedly suffered will have been caused by the BuzzFeed publication, for which the claimant accepts Orbis is not liable,” Orbis’s lawyer Antony White KC said.

White said the dossier was never intended to be made public and all copies of the memos held by Orbis were destroyed in 2017.

“The claimant has a deep and intense animus against Mr Steele and Orbis, which is reflected in numerous vituperative public statements which he has made since the dossier was made public by BuzzFeed in 2017,” White said.

Trump “has a long history of repeatedly bringing frivolous, meritless and vexatious claims for the purpose of vexing and harassing perceived enemies and others against whom he bears a grudge”, he added.

The hearing is set to conclude on Tuesday, with a decision expected at a later date.

-AP