UK Fraud Watchdog Closes Case Against Tesco Over Past Accounting Issues

By Adam Clark

The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office said Friday that it has closed its case against Tesco Stores Ltd., after the supermarket chain fulfilled the terms of a settlement reached over issues of false accounting.

Tesco paid a fine of 129 million pounds ($160.3 million) in 2017 plus the costs of the SFO investigation over historic overstatement of profits. It also entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, or DPA, which applied to Tesco Stores Ltd. rather than parent company Tesco PLC.

"The SFO is satisfied that Tesco has fully complied with the terms of the DPA," the watchdog said.

The SFO opened its investigation in October 2014, after the retailer disclosed it had overstated its profit by GBP263 million due to accounting practices that included the early booking of income and delayed booking of costs at its core U.K. food business.

While the SFO reached a settlement with the company, a separate case against three former Tesco executives collapsed when a judge dismissed the charges.

Write to Adam Clark at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 10, 2020 06:27 ET (10:27 GMT)

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