UK Fraud Watchdog Closes Case Against Tesco Over Past Accounting Issues
April 10 2020 - 6:42AM
Dow Jones News
By Adam Clark
The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office said Friday that it has closed
its case against Tesco Stores Ltd., after the supermarket chain
fulfilled the terms of a settlement reached over issues of false
accounting.
Tesco paid a fine of 129 million pounds ($160.3 million) in 2017
plus the costs of the SFO investigation over historic overstatement
of profits. It also entered into a three-year deferred prosecution
agreement, or DPA, which applied to Tesco Stores Ltd. rather than
parent company Tesco PLC.
"The SFO is satisfied that Tesco has fully complied with the
terms of the DPA," the watchdog said.
The SFO opened its investigation in October 2014, after the
retailer disclosed it had overstated its profit by GBP263 million
due to accounting practices that included the early booking of
income and delayed booking of costs at its core U.K. food
business.
While the SFO reached a settlement with the company, a separate
case against three former Tesco executives collapsed when a judge
dismissed the charges.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 10, 2020 06:27 ET (10:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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