Britain charges three ex-Tesco execs over accounts

Britain's Serious Fraud Office today charged three former executives of Tesco with fraud and false accounting in a criminal probe into an accounting scandal at the supermarket giant.
Carl Rogberg, Chris Bush and John Scouler - Tesco's former UK finance chief, UK managing director and food commercial head respectively - were charged with one account of fraud by abuse of position and one count of false accounting.
The three men will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 22, the SFO said in a statement, adding its investigation was still ongoing.
The SFO launched a criminal probe into Tesco in October 2014 after the company revealed it had overstated profits by an amount which has since risen to as much as 326 million pounds (USD 435 million).

The alleged activity occurred between February 2014 and September 2014, according to the SFO.
Tesco, which is Britain's biggest retailer, said it will continue to cooperate with the probe.

"We note the decision of the SFO to bring a prosecution against former colleagues in relation to historic issues and acknowledge the investigation into the company is ongoing. Tesco continues to co-operate with the SFO's investigation," it said in a brief statement.
"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 supermarket titan was plunged into crisis two years ago after it admitted overstating profits in an accounting error.
In recent years, the group has also been hit hard by fierce competition in main market Britain, particularly from German-owned discount retailers Aldi and Lidl - but also from Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's.
In a bid to turn around its fortunes, Tesco appointed outsider and former Unilever executive Dave Lewis in July 2014 to replace long-standing chief executive Philip Clarke and oversee a drastic restructuring.
Tesco is the world's third-biggest supermarket group after France's Carrefour and global leader and US giant Wal-Mart.