£6m of taxpayer cash blown on Tesco case

THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) blew £6.2m of taxpayer money as part of its failed bid to prosecute three ex-Tesco directors over the company’s accounting scandal.

It was revealed yesterday that the total bill for the investigation of Tesco and the subsequent court cases of Chris Bush, John Scouler and Carl Rogberg – the retailer’s ex-managing director, UK food commercial director and finance chief – came in at £6.2m, with £2.6m spent on lawyers.

The trio were accused of being aware that income was wrongly included in Tesco’s financial records to meet targets and make the grocery giant look financially healthier than it was, to the tune of £250m.

All were cleared of one count of fraud and another of false accounting after a judge dismissed the case brought by the SFO against Mr Bush and Mr Scouler because it was too “weak”.

The SFO went to the Court of Appeal regarding the dismissal, but its appeal was dismissed and the men were cleared. The case against Mr Rogberg was then dropped by the SFO in January.

The acquittals mean neither Tesco nor any of its executives has been successfully prosecuted over one of the biggest corporate scandals in recent history.

Meanwhile, taxpayers are left nursing a £6.2m bill, although Tesco itself picked up £3m of that sum as part of the SFO’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the supermarket. Tesco also agreed to pay a fine of £129m but avoided a trial.