The Serious Fraud Office’s case against two former Tesco directors, who were accused of committing a £250m fraud, has collapsed because of lack of evidence.
Collapse of the Tesco trial is an expensive humiliation for the SFO. Four years of effort dismissed as groundless
— Adam Parsons (@adamparsons) December 6, 2018
The jury was told that Christopher Bush, ex-UK managing director, and John Scouler, ex-UK food commercial director, had been cleared on charges of fraud and false accounting.
Bush and Scouler were accused of manipulating figures that resulted in Tesco’s profits being massively overstated. The defendants had been on trial for eight weeks at Southwark Crown Court.
In August 2014, Tesco said it expected half-year profits to be about £1.1bn. However, weeks later, it said profits had been overstated by about £250m.
Both men had denied the charges.
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