Tesco execs plead not guilty to fraud charges
Three former Tesco executives plead not guilty to fraud charges as part of the Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into a scandal which resulted in a £263m black hole in the supermarket giant’s finances.
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Former managing director Chris Bush, finance director Carl Rogberg and commercial food director John Scouler denied the charges as they appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday in a preliminary hearing.
They were charged by the SFO on 9 September with fraud by abuse of position and fraud by false accounting, for alleged activity between February and September 2014, which can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 and seven years respectively.
They were released on bail and will appear at Southwark Crown Court on 20 October for a plea hearing.
In September 2015 the supermarket said it had inflated its profits by £250m, which later grew to £263m, by allegedly delaying and deducting millions of pounds from suppliers.
Shares in Tesco were up 2.45% to 182p at 1532 BST.