Fraud office starts probe into Tesco

LONDON: Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened a formal criminal investigation into accounting errors at Tesco, raising the stakes in a scandal that has hammered the reputation of the country’s biggest grocer. Already battling challenges on multiple fronts, Tesco said it had been notified of the SFO’s new investigation into the £263 million (RM1.38 billion) overstatement of its first-half profits that has led to the suspension of eight senior members of staff. Tesco is already facing one proposed investor lawsuit in the United States over the accounting irregularities. Reuters