Rough justice – the Tesco three

Aziz Rahman (0800 559 3500, aziz.rahman@rahmanravelli.co.uk) is senior partner at Rahman Ravelli.

The third former Tesco director to be accused of fraud in connection with the company’s multi-million pound accounting black hole has been cleared at Southwark Crown Court, which means no one has been found guilty. Yet Tesco itself admitted wrongdoing in order to secure a deferred prosecution agreement. Aziz Rahman of Rahman Ravelli argues that the case points to necessary reassessment of the DPA process and warns against a culture where corporates see such agreements as a cost of doing business while their executives face prosecution.