Former Tesco executives' trial date set for next year

Three of Tesco’s former Tesco executives are set to appear in court next year over allegations of fraud that left a £326m accounting hole.

The former managing director Carl Rogberg, former finance director John Scouler and former commercial director for food appeared at Southwark Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing on Thursday when the date for the full trial was set for 4 September 2017.

The men are charged with one count of fraud by a position of power and one count of false accounting. The trio could face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of the fraud charge and seven year for false accounting. Their lawyers have said they intended to plead not guilty to the charges.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched a criminal investigation into the accounting practices at Tesco in October 2014 after the company admitted it had overstated profits by £263m by illegally boosting payments from suppliers. It later revised the overstatement up to £326m.

Last month, at Westminster magistrates’ court, the charges alleged that the three men had abused their positions for personal gain. They were accused of “inputting of and/or reliance upon commercial income figures which gave a false account of the financial position of Tesco”.

The SFO investigation into the supermarket giant is ongoing and could lead to more individuals facing charges.

“The last two years have seen an extensive programme of change at Tesco, but given this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to provide any further comment at this time,” the company said.

All three were released on conditional bail and will return to court on 30 May next year for a preliminary hearing.

The scandal has also led to another legal claim of £150m from 60 of its shareholders who claim to have lost money as a result of it.

The firm funding the claim, Bentham Europe, said the investors were “misled by information inaccurately provided to the market” when Tesco overstated its profits.

Other lawsuits are likely to follow due to a vehicle set up by US law firm, Scott & Scott, last year that allows UK and European investors to join forces.

The revelation of the deception caused £2bn to be wiped off the retailer’s market value.

Chief executive Dave Lewis has however been able to salvage the situation by promising to be more transparent with its suppliers and to focus on its core customers.

As a result, the supermarket reported its third consecutive quarter of like-for-like growth and beat City profit expectations earlier this month.

The recovery has led to its shares bouncing back in value since they took a dive in 2014.

The share price fell 1.84% to 210.90p at 1601 BST on Thursday.