Tesco Suspends More Execs Over Profits Error

Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) has suspended another three executives as it continues its investigation into a £250m profit black hole.

Sky Sources suggest they are Dan Jago, head of beer, wine and spirits and director of convenience Sean McCurley.

The other man is understood to be another category director, William Linnane.

It brings to eight the total number of executives suspended by Britain's biggest retailer over the crisis.

A Tesco spokesperson said today: "We have asked three employees to step aside to facilitate the investigation into the potential overstatement of profits in UK food for the first half of the year.

"We will provide an update on the investigation with our interim results on 23 October".

The company said it had commissioned its own independent inquiry into the causes behind the accounting error when it made the details public on 22 September .

The City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, later said it would also launch its own "full investigation" into the issue.

The £250m figure relates to how it logs suppliers' rebates and if they were reported in the correct accounting period.

The four senior executives previously suspended include UK managing director Chris Bush.

It also emerged the company had not had a finance chief in place for five months .

Tesco said a day later that its new incoming finance chief Alan Stewart, who was not due to start until 1 December, would commence work two months early .