Three former Tesco directors have been accused of acting dishonestly for personal gain as they appeared in court to answer charges of fraud and false accounting in relation to a £263m-plus scandal at the supermarket chain.
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Chris Bush, Carl Rogberg and John Scouler denied the charges against them as they appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court in a preliminary hearing this morning. The men didn’t talk to each other as they sat in the dock, two years to the day since the retailer publicly disclosed its accounting problem.
All three allegedly carried out the fraud and false accounting between February and September 2014.
They were told they would face trial at Southwark Crown Court and were granted bail until their next court appearance on October 20.
The SFO investigation into Tesco is ongoing and it is still possible that further individuals could face action.
Deloitte’s investigation at the time into the overstatement of the expected half year profits confirmed that there were amounts pulled forward or deferred, contrary to Tesco Group accounting policies and that there was similar practice in previous reporting periods.
The profit overstatement, discovered three weeks after Dave Lewis took over as Chief Executive from the sacked Philip Clarke, was later raised to 263 million pounds.
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The SFO investigation into Tesco continues.
