Three former Tesco executives have denied charges in relation to the £326 million accounting scandal at the supermarket.
Carl Rogberg, 49, Chris Bush, 50, and John Scouler, 48, are charged with fraud by abuse of position and false accounting.
They allegedly failed to correct inaccurately inflated income figures for the supermarket, which were published to auditors, other Tesco employees and the wider market.
The three men appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing.
All the defendants’ lawyers indicated pleas of not guilty to the two charges they each face.
The supermarket’s former finance chief, managing director and food commercial head were investigated for their alleged role in an accounting scandal in which Tesco was found to have inflated its profits by £326 million in 2014.
The Serious Fraud Office said the investigation into Tesco “remains ongoing”.
Rogberg, of Chiselhampton, Oxfordshire, Bush, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Scouler, of St Albans, Hertfordshire, were released on bail and ordered to appear on October 20 at Southwark Crown Court for a plea hearing.
