Tesco CEO Dave Lewis to act as witness in fraud trial

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis has been summoned by the court to appear as a witness in the trial of  three former executives from his company accused of fraud, according to The Telegraph.

Tesco’s former UK managing director Chris Bush, ex-finance director Carl Rogberg and former food commercial director John Scouler have been accused by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of committing fraud by abuse of power and fraud by false accounting.

Lewis has been called by the prosecution alongside 10 other witnesses to relating to an accounting scandal which occurred in 2014, just three weeks after Lewis joined as chief executive.

READ MORE:  Tesco faces yet more legal action over 2014 accounting scandal

The grocery giant  admitted it had exaggerated its profits by £250 million, leading many investors to act on misinformation costing millions of pounds.

Tesco  recently reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the SFO, but  the details cannot be published until after the trial in September.

According to their lawyers the three executive are to plead not guilty to the charges, which could land them 10 years each in prison.

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