TESCO boss tells court of his shock at discovering extent of company’s accounting scandal
TESCO boss Dave Lewis told a court yesterday of his shock when he discovered the extent of his company’s £246million accounting scandal.
Carl Rogberg (L) and Dave Lewis (R) arrive at Southwark Crown Court for the fraud trial
Mr Lewis told the trial of three former directors that once he was made aware of the shortage it was “very important” for the matter to be looked into quickly.
Carl Rogberg, 50, Chris Bush, 51, and John Scouler, 49, have denied charges of fraud by abuse of position and false accounting between February and September 2014.
The trio are accused of “cooking the books” in the scandal which wiped £2bn off the supermarket’s share value.
Tesco was left reeling after it admitted “overstating” profits by nearly £250million.
Clive Lewis arrived to give evidence at the trial of Tesco employees charged with fraud
My reaction was one of surprise and one of shock really
Southwark Crown Court heard that Mr Lewis took over as chief executive of Tesco on September 1, 2014.
Despite numerous meetings with Chris Bush, Tesco’s former UK managing director, and a meeting with former UK food commercial director John Scouler, he had not been told of the issue until September 19.
Prosecutor Sasha Wass yesterday asked the supermarket boss what his immediate reaction had been.
Mr Lewis said: “One of surprise and one of shock really."
Carl Rogberg is the former finance director for Tesco Plc, who reportedly received bonuses of £5m
The trial has previously heard from whistleblower Amit Soni, of Tesco’s finance team, who alleged that the supermarket’s staff felt “under pressure” to meet aggressive profit margin targets.
It is alleged that Rogberg, Bush and Scouler, who each received bonuses of more than £5million, had a personal interest in keeping the value of the company high as much of their remuneration package included shares.
The hearing continues.