Ex-Tesco directors cleared of fraud

THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been dealt a major blow after two former Tesco directors were acquitted over a £250 million fraud and false accounting scandal in 2014.

Chris Bush, ex-UK managing director, and John Scouler, the then UK food commercial director, were accused of being aware that income was wrongly included in the company’s financial records to meet targets and make Tesco look financially healthier than it was.

But yesterday at Southwark Crown Court, the jury was told that they were acquitted at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

The acquittal came after trial judge Sir John Royce dismissed the case brought by the SFO, bringing the trial to a halt after the prosecution presented its case.

The SFO went to the Court of Appeal over the dismissal, but its appeal was dismissed and the men were cleared by Court of Appeal judges.

Mr Scouler, 50, of The Park, St Albans, and Mr Bush, 52, of Four Acres, Green End Road, Radnage, High Wycombe, were each cleared of one count of fraud and another of false accounting.

A third man, former UK finance director Carl Rogberg, is charged with identical offences but was not well enough to stand trial.