Tesco execs plead not guilty to fraud charges

22nd Sep 2016 14:35

(ShareCast News) - Three former Tesco executives plead not guilty to fraud charges as part of the Serious Fraud Office's investigation into a scandal which resulted in a £263m black hole in the supermarket giant's finances.Former managing director Chris Bush, finance director Carl Rogberg and commercial food director John Scouler denied the charges as they appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday in a preliminary hearing.They were charged by the SFO on 9 September with fraud by abuse of position and fraud by false accounting, for alleged activity between February and September 2014, which can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 and seven years respectively.They were released on bail and will appear at Southwark Crown Court on 20 October for a plea hearing.In September 2015 the supermarket said it had inflated its profits by £250m, which later grew to £263m, by allegedly delaying and deducting millions of pounds from suppliers.Shares in Tesco were up 2.45% to 182p at 1532 BST.