At Southwark crown court, Rogberg, Christopher Bush, Tesco UK’s former managing director, and John Scouler, its former UK food commercial director, face charges of one count of fraud by false accounting and one count of fraud by abuse of position in a case brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

They could face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of fraud by abuse and a maximum of seven years for false accounting.

All three men pleaded not guilty at a hearing at Southwark crown court last month. 

Earlier this year, Tesco confirmed it had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with (SFO, under which it will pay a £129m fine, marking the conclusion of the regulator’s investigation into accounting irregularities relating to half year interim results in 2014, which was found to be down to revenue recognition issues linked to the way in which income from deals with suppliers was booked by the retailer.

A subsequent investigation into the six-month trading update for the period ending 23 August 2014 identified an overstatement of Tesco’s expected profit for the half year, principally due to the accelerated recognition of commercial income and delayed accrual of costs.

Last month saw the launch of a £85m compensation scheme for shareholders who lost money as a result of the supermarket giant overstating its profits in 2014, with administrators, KPMG, accepting claims until 22 February 2018.