Ex-Tesco executives plead not guilty to charges of accounting fraud

Three of Tesco’s former top managers pleaded not guilty to the charges of abuse of position and accounting fraud brought against them by the Serious Fraud Office.

At a preliminary court hearing at Westminster magistrates’ court, they were told they had been expected “to safeguard or not act against the financial interest of Tesco plc, Tesco Stores, their shareholders, creditors, investors and potential investors, dishonestly and intending to make a gain, or to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss”.

They were also accused of having concealed the “true financial position [of Tesco] from the auditors”.

Significantly, they were accused of having falsified the digital accounting records and the company’s draft interim financial statements.

Carl Rogberg, the grocer’s former finance chief, Christopher Bush, managing director for the UK, and John Scouler, the former UK food commercial director faced up to ten years of prison if found guilty of the first charge and potentially another seven for the second accusation.

In 2014 Tesco suffered a £6.3bn loss, in part as a result of the accounting misstatement, the largest ever in British corporate history.