Tesco : hands out £193m to settle 2014 accounting scandal

Tesco has handed out £193m to settle an accounting scandal from seven years ago, a larger figure than it received from the UK’s fraud watchdog.

The country’s largest supermarket confirmed that it had settled claims from investors with two law firms that had brought legal proceedings against it last September.

The investors include Allianz, Russell Investments and the Church of England pension fund, which sued Tesco over scandal which saw Tesco lose some £2bn from its valuation.

The supermarket revealed it had incorrectly booked supplier income by £250m, although the error reportedly grew to £326m.

Shareholders had therefore been seeking compensation for the drastic share price fall, claiming that their losses resulted from Tesco’s inaccurate reporting.

The Serious Fraud Office had fined the supermarket giant £129m, while three Tesco executives who were prosecuted by the watchdog were eventually acquitted in 2019.

City A.M. has contacted Tesco for comment.