Finance: £250 million Tesco fraud trial discontinued after defendant suffers a heart attack

The trio was charged in 2016 after Tesco was found to have inflated its profits by nearly £250 million in 2014.

• The jury in a fraud trial against 3 former Tesco executives has been dismissed after one defendant suffered a heart attack.

• Defendant Carl Rogberg had a heart attack last Thursday and remains in hospital

• The SFO has until March to consider whether it will apply for a retrial.

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LONDON — The jury in a fraud trial against three former Tesco executives has been dismissed after one defendant suffered a heart attack.

Former Tesco UK managing director Christopher Bush, former UK finance director Carl Rogberg, and former food commercial director John Scouler were all charged with fraud by false accounting and of fraud by abuse of position.

On Tuesday it emerged that Rogberg had a heart attack last week and remains in hospital.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday that the jury in the case has been discontinued. The case, which was scheduled to finish before Christmas, was beset by delays relating to administrative issues.

The trio was charged in 2016 after Tesco was found to have inflated its profits by nearly £250 million ($331 million) in 2014.

The SFO has until March to consider whether it will apply for a retrial.

The trio was charged in 2016 after Tesco was found to have inflated its profits by nearly £250 million in 2014. Read Full Story