By Ashley Young-
Tesco’s former UK finance director has been cleared of fraud and false accounting in connection to the retailer’s profits being overstated by £250 million.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), who led the prosecution dropped the case against Carl Rogberg- one of the three former Tesco directors implicated in the trial. He is the last of three former directors who had been charged to be acquitted, in a blow to the Serious Fraud Office.
Last month, a judge John Royce dismissed cases against Chris Bush and John Scouler, saying “in certain crucial areas the prosecution case was so weak it should not be left for a jury’s consideration”
Rogberg was accused of knowing his income was being wrongly included in records to meet targets and make Tesco look financially healthier than it was. His trial was abandoned last year after he suffered a heart attack, and he was too ill to face a retrial alongside Tesco’s former UK food commercial director John Scouler and former UK managing director Chris Bush.
Last month, Southwark Crown Court dismissed the case against both Bush and Scouler, who were accused of fraud and false accounting, arguing that the case was too “weak”. Today, not guilty verdicts were formally entered on the same charges after the SFO announced it would offer no evidence against him.The accounting scandal caused Tesco’s market value to collapse by £2 billion in 2014. The collapse of the trial comes on the same day of the publication of a DPA and proposed £129m fine the the supermarket agreed with the SFO in 2017.
Reporting restrictions on the DPA, imposed during the trials, were lifted this morning. The details of the DPA are yet to be published.
The SFO is expected to publish details of its agreement with Tesco, which paid a fine of £129 million in March 2017 and avoided trial. Lawyers for the defendants have argued, however, that it was unfair to publish those facts which ascribe wrongdoing to them.
Cleared: Carl Rogberg Image: News.Sky.Com
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Rogberg said: “It’s a huge relief that this day has finally come. While I always had faith that it would, the journey here has not been an easy one. The trial has had enormous consequences on my health and exemplary career, as well as for my wife, my son, my family and my friends.”
He had not been well enough to stand trail with his former colleagues, after he suffered heart-attack during the first trial.
After Wednesday’s collapsed trial in Southwark Crown Court, Mr Rogberg said he had “serious questions” for the SFO and Tesco about the way the case had been handled.
“In short, there was never any evidence of my wrong-doing and I should never have been charged,” he said
Rogberg’s acquittal is a big blow to the Serious Fraud Office who failed to successfully prosecute Tesco, Bush or Scouler in one of the biggest historical scandals in corporate business. Neil O’May of Norton Rose Fulbright, who represented Rogberg, said: “This is more than simply an acquittal by a jury. It is a finding that there was insufficient evidence on which the case could have been brought. This is unprecedented in high-profile serious fraud cases.
“There must be real concern that a serious fraud case is brought without the SFO having expert accounting evidence in which to understand the nature of the case. “There was also no real investigation undertaken to show whether or not there was indeed fraudulent activity as alleged at the level of buyers and suppliers.”
Details of a deferred prosecution agreement between Tesco and the SFO can now be reported after restrictions lapsed automatically following the end of the criminal proceedings.