Two former Tesco directors have been cleared of fraud in relation to the supermarket’s £263m accounting scandal after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence, in what is being seen as a “significant defeat” for the Serious Fraud Office.
Chris Bush, ex-UK managing director, and John Scouler, the then UK food commercial director, were accused of being aware that income was being wrongly included in the company’s financial records to meet targets and make Tesco look financially healthier than it was.
When Tesco unveiled that it had overstated profits by £250m in October 2014 its shares plummeted by nearly 12%, wiping £2bn off its market value.
