SFO confirms it will seek retrial for Tesco accounting scandal

Three former senior Tesco executives will face a court jury for the second time over an accounting scandal after their first trial was abandoned last month.

The trial, relating a £326 million back hole that was revealed in Tesco‘s trading update on August 2014, came to abrupt halt in February not long before the jury was to hand down their verdict.

One of the accused, former finance director Carl Rogberg, had suffered a heart attack and was admitted to hospital and Judge Deborah Taylor dismissed the jury, stating his illness could prejudice their decision.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which is prosecuting the case, has confirmed today that they would seek a retrial of Rogberg, as well as former UK managing director Christopher Bush and former commercial director John Scouler.

The SFO said the date would be set in due course.

Rogberg, Bush and Scouler were charged last year with offences including false accounting and fraud by abuse of position.

The SFO led an investigation that implicated the trio and found Tesco had committed market abuse when it exaggerated profits.

The three men allegedly failed to correct inaccurately inflated income figures for the supermarket, which were published to auditors, other Tesco employees and the wider market.

Rogberg, Bush and Scouler have pleaded not guilty.

Their first trial began in September last year following years of delays.

Former chief executive Philip Clarke, who stepped down just weeks after the accounting black hole was unearthed, was let off by the SFO after being under investigation last year.

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