Two Former Tesco Executives Acquitted in Fraud Trial

By Mengqi Sun 

Former executives at subsidiaries of Tesco PLC were acquitted in a 2014 fraud case related to the British retailer's accounting practices.

The U.K's Serious Fraud Office opened an investigation in October 2014 after Tesco disclosed it had overstated its profit by more than GBP250 million.

The office in 2016 charged each of three former executives, Carl Rogberg, Christopher Bush and John Scouler, with accounting fraud and abusing their positions.

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a "no case to answer" decision in the retrial against Messrs. Bush and Scouler, ruling there was insufficient evidence for a jury to consider.

The first trial against the three defendants was discontinued in February. The SFO appealed the decision after a judge decided there was insufficient evidence for a case against Messrs. Bush and Scouler in a retrial, which began in October.

Mr. Rogberg wasn't part of the recent retrial and the SFO is still evaluating whether to pursue a retrial of him considering the latest judgment.

Tesco in March 2017 entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with the SFO regarding its accounting practices, agreeing to pay GBP129 million in penalties plus the SFO's cost.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 07, 2018 18:51 ET (23:51 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.