:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/LCZTTKAGAVTDJ3UOXA3CYRYMMM.jpg)
Three former Tesco UK executives will plead not guilty to accounting fraud charges, their lawyers said as the men appeared in a London court for the first time since being charged.
Former UK chief Chris Bush, Carl Rogberg, the former British finance director, and John Scouler, ex-UK commercial director, spoke only to confirm their names, addresses and ages as they stood in front ofJudge Vanessa Baraitser at Westminster Magistrates' Court Thursday.
Bail
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ON262RX66ABHSKS5WQFI4UXMRM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IMQV2F5UIHJZLQ7MLZL6IMN54E.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ISGWVBWSXGVYZ5NLPMU3443GTE.jpg)
The men were granted unconditional bail and told to appear at a higher court on October 20th.The men are each charged with one count of fraud by abuse of position and one count of false accounting.
The UK Serious Fraud Office started investigating Tesco in 2014 after the grocer said it had overstated profits by £263 million (€306 million), an amount which has since spiraled to as much as £326 million.The charges against the men are alleged to have taken place between February 1st, 2014, and September 23rd, 2014, according to the court listing.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)