London - Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to launch a formal criminal probe into accounting errors at troubled supermarket Tesco, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
Britain's biggest retailer, which has suffered a string of recent profit warnings and management exits, is already being investigated by accounting watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council, after the firm overstated first-half profits by $263 million pounds (R2.9 billion).
Tesco, whose shares slipped half a percent on the news, declined to comment.
A SFO spokesman said it was still doing a preliminary investigation of Tesco but declined to say whether it had launched a full probe.
“When we do have something to announce in terms of a next stage, that will be announced,” he said. - Reuters