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Verso Group data hoarder fined by UK watchdog

A company that specialises in asking the public to take part in "surveys" in which the answers are then used to target respondents with unsolicited marketing calls has been fined.

An investigation found Verso Group had not been clear about what it was doing.

The Hertfordshire-based company came to regulators' attention after it was involved in one campaign that resulted in 46 million "nuisance calls" about payment protection insurance (PPI).

It has been ordered to pay £80,000.

The Information Commissioner's Office said it was the first such penalty following a wider investigation into the so-called data broking industry.

"This type of unlawful data directly fuels the nuisance call and spam text industry and creates misery for millions of UK citizens," said the ICO's deputy commissioner, James Dipple-Johnstone.

"Businesses need to understand they don't own personal data – people do."

Although the ICO has the power to issue fines of up to £500,000, the sum is still likely to be significant to Verso.

According to accounts filed in May, the Hertfordshire-based company's net assets totalled just £12,386.

A spokesman for Verso declined to comment.

Personal details

Verso has been in business since 2011 and describes itself as the "largest lead-generation business in the UK by some distance".

According to its website, it uses call centres in India, the Philippines and North America to carry out surveys with the public, with the stated aim of helping consumers cut their utility bills.

These are branded as being carried out by the UK Savers Club and I Love My Offers among other names. Verso says it carries out more than 115,000 such surveys each month.

The business then offers other companies the ability to target consumers via email, phone, postal mail and text, based on the lifestyle, financial and demographic information gathered from respondents.

In addition to PPI insurance, Verso says its clients have used the information to sell loans, legal advice about accidents, extended warranties and beauty products.

Two of the companies Verso has sold data to – Pro Dial and Emacs – have previously been fined by the ICO over the way they had conducted their cold-call businesses.

A follow-up investigation into Verso concluded it was not providing survey respondents with specific enough information about to whom it planned to pass their data, and thus had failed to obtain the necessary consent to sell it on.

Moreover, the ICO said it had found Verso to be "unhelpful and obstructive" when it had tried to look into the matter.

"Verso's contraventions were systemic – they were not isolated, one-off or occasional errors," the report said, "[and] were of a kind likely to cause substantial damage or substantial distress."

The watchdog has ordered Verso to pay the fine by mid-November, although it could also try to appeal against the ruling.

Citizens' rights over their personal information are set to be strengthened next year under the UK's Data Protection Bill.

The law – which implements the EU's General Data Protection Regulation – makes it possible for a person to oblige a company to delete information held about them.

It also raises the cap on the size of penalties the ICO can demand.

Source – bbc.com

Gender equality gap worsens for women – World Economic Forum

Inequality between men and women across the world has worsened over the past year, a report suggests.

It is the first time that data from the World Economic Forum (WEF) has shown a year-on-year worsening of the gender gap since it began charting it in 2006.

The report ranks 144 countries to compare women's economic opportunities, education, political participation and health with men.

Women are measured as having 68% of the chances and outcomes that men have.

This is slightly down from the 68.3% measured last year.

But the group says the overall gender gap in all of the areas of equality it monitors would take 100 years to close at the current rate.

That is well up from the 83 years predicted in 2016.

Gender parity is closest in areas of health and education, it says, but significant gaps in economic participation and political empowerment continue to endure across the world.

Women will have to wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and are equally represented in the workplace, the figures suggest.

Nordic countries remain among some of the world's best for overall equality. Iceland tops the list with a 12% gender gap across all the WEF's measures. Norway, Finland ands Sweden are all in the top five.

Rwanda came fourth in the list for overall gender equality with a gap of 18%. The country has the highest share of women in parliament in the world – they occupy three in every five seats.

Nicaragua, Slovenia, Ireland, New Zealand and the Philippines also made the top 10 on the Global Gender Gap rankings.

Women in the Middle East and North Africa fared the worst, with war-torn Yemen coming last on the list with a gender equality score of just 52%.

The report shows women in the world earn less not just because of gendered salary differences, but because women are more likely to do unpaid or part-time work than men.

Women also generally tend to work in lower-paid professions and are less likely to be in highly-paid senior roles in companies.

Slovenia has the smallest gap in gender earnings – with women there on average earning 80.5% of the male national average.

The report says that if the economic gender gap was totally closed:

• China could add $2.5tn to its GDP
• The United States could add $1.75bn
• France and Germany could add more than $300bn each
• The UK could add $250bn

New world leaders' impact

Both Canada and France saw improvements to their political empowerment measures after Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron added more women in ministerial positions within their governments.

The US saw a marked drop in this area, with female political empowerment at its lowest rate in 10 years. It came 96th in this area.

The report blames a significant decrease in female ministerial positions for the fall – a Freedom of Information request in March revealed that only 27% of all jobs within the Trump administration were taken by women.

• Meet Trump's cabinet: The people around the president
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Overall the US fell four places to take 49th position.

The UK climbed five places, taking 15th spot this year. Its rank is largely due to high levels of female education, and Prime Minister Theresa May's government has helped the UK to improve its political score. A record number of female MPs were elected to the country's parliament in June.

But it continues to lag behind in economic participation and opportunities for women in particular. The UK ranks 95th in the world for income equality, with women in the UK earning on average 45% less per year than men.

Other countries that improved overall included Bangladesh, which now ranks 47th in the world and the highest in South Asia after increasing female employment in professions.

Sub-Saharan African countries made marked improvements in women's health. Nine countries from the region are in the world's top 20 for high female labour force participation.

Source – bbc.com

Catalonia crisis: Spain's prosecutors call for Puigdemont's arrest

Spain's state prosecutor has requested a European arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four others over their role in a disputed independence referendum.

All five failed to show up at Spain's high court on accusations of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.

Mr Puigdemont's lawyer said the climate was "not good" for him to appear.

Eight other sacked members of Catalonia's regional government did turn up for questioning at the court.

Prosecutors in Madrid asked for the eight to be jailed over their role following their testimony.

Spain has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since the referendum was held on 1 October in defiance of a constitutional court ruling that had declared it illegal.

Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy imposed direct rule on Catalonia, dissolving the regional parliament and calling snap local elections for 21 December.

• Catalonia crisis in 300 words
• What next for Spain?

This came after Catalan lawmakers voted to declare independence of the affluent north-eastern region.

The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part in the referendum, 90% were in favour of independence.

What happened in court?

Prosecutors asked the high court judge to jail eight of the nine sacked members who turned up for questioning. They included Deputy Vice President, Oriol Junqueras; Interior Minister, Joaquim Forn; Foreign Affairs Minister, Raül Romeva; and Justice Minister Carles Mundó.

The ninth, Catalonia's former Business Minister Santi Vila, should be granted a €50,000 ($58,000; £44,000) bail, prosecutors said. He resigned before the Catalan parliament voted for independence on Friday.

The Catalan leaders are yet to be formally charged. They were accused of rebellion – which carries a maximum 30-year jail term – as well as sedition and misuse of funds.

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A judge will decide whether the officials should go to jail, pending an investigation that could potentially lead to a trial. She can also grant them conditional bail and order them to surrender their passports.

The court summons had given the sacked leaders three days to pay a deposit of €6.2m ($7.2m) to cover potential liabilities.

Who did not show up?

Five sacked officials stayed in Brussels, including Mr Puigdemont, who had previously said he would not return to Spain if he and his colleagues did not receive unspecified guarantees of a fair trial.

Reports suggest some of them requested to appear before the judges via video conference. Mr Puigdemont's Belgian lawyer told Reuters news agency that he would co-operate with the authorities in Spain and Belgium.

The deposed leader was seen in a cafe in Brussels while the other Catalan leaders appeared in court, Radio Nacional de España said on Twitter, with a picture of him.

Skip Twitter post by @rne

???? EXCLUSIVA: @rne comprueba que el expresidente de la Generalitat de Cataluña, Carles Puigdemont, sigue en Bruselas https://t.co/vw1ifSx0u3 pic.twitter.com/Ce6BtuEULF

— Radio Nacional (@rne) November 2, 2017

Report

End of Twitter post by @rne

Mr Puigdemont's handling of the crisis has drawn criticism among some other Catalan politicians, with left-wing parliamentary deputy Joan Josep Nuet criticising him for creating "yet more bewilderment".

Despite Mr Puigdemont's position, the Spanish government insists it has no influence over the country's judiciary, the BBC's Tom Burridge in Barcelona says.

But if those Catalan politicians appearing in court are denied bail it will cause further anger among those who want Catalonia to break away, our correspondent adds.

Meanwhile, five other senior members of the Catalan parliament, as well as speaker Carme Forcadell, are facing the same charges but, because of their parliamentary immunity, their cases are being handled by the Supreme Court.

Their hearings have been postponed until 9 November.

• The man who wants to break up Spain

Spain's central bank warned on Thursday of the "significant risks and economic costs" resulting from the crisis, and that Catalonia's economy could fall into recession.

Early numbers suggest that the vital tourism sector of the region has already been affected by the ongoing uncertainty.

Source – bbc.com

Russia takes on Mideast diplomacy as US retreats

After watching for years as the United States called the shots in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin is seizing the reins of diplomacy in the Middle East, establishing footholds and striking alliances with unlikely partners.

From the battlefields of Syria to its burgeoning relationships with Iran and Turkey to its deepening ties with Saudi Arabia, Russia is stepping in to fill a void left by the United States first under the Obama administration and now in the vastly inconsistent and largely hands-off policies of Donald Trump.

Embroiled in controversy at home and loath to engaging in the strife-riddled region beyond fighting the Islamic State group, Trump has largely stayed on the sidelines of attempts to help find a political settlement for Syria's long-running civil war. Those efforts are now led by Russia, in partnership with Iran and Turkey, organizing local cease-fires and creating "de-escalation zones" that have significantly reduced the violence in the country. Russia's role in Syria has raised its international profile and allowed it to claim fighting terrorist groups such as the Islamic State group while it shored up President Bashar Assad's government.

Moscow has stood by Tehran while Trump has refused to re-certify the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers — a stance reiterated by Putin himself Thursday on a visit to Tehran. It has also reached out to Iran's Mideast rival Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, promising weapons deals and other investments to the Sunni power house.

Bilal Saab, a senior fellow and director of the Defense and Security Program at the Middle East Institute, said that while Russia has clearly become a more influential interlocutor on Syria, there are clear limits to its overall foray into the region.

"What Russia offers is transactional, as opposed to strategic. Arms sales are no substitute for deep political rapport, which is what Washington provides, despite lingering tensions with key partners," he said.

Still, Putin appears to be positioning himself as Mideast broker, seeking to expand his influence in a region where the U.S. remains the most dominant military actor.

SYRIA POWER BROKER

Moscow's military involvement in the Syrian war since 2015 has propped up Assad's forces and turned the conflict in his favor, while Russian mediation earlier this year launched cease-fire talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. The talks, sponsored jointly with Iran and Turkey, have brokered local deals that have significantly reduced violence in the war-torn country.

This week, Russia announced plans to host Syrian groups and government representatives for political talks on Nov. 18 — just 10 days before a new round of U.N.-sponsored talks are to start in Geneva. The invitation has roiled Syrian opposition groups who described it as an attempt to "bypass" U.N. efforts to resolve the country's conflict and dictate the terms of any settlement.

Russia invited over a dozen groups, a mix of government representatives and political opposition parties, including for the first time the main U.S.-backed Kurdish party now in control of northern Syria. The Syrian Kurdish PYD has previously been barred from participation in political negotiations at the Geneva Talks, at Turkey's insistence.

The invitation by Russia has led to speculation that Russia may use the conference to broker a wider reconciliation between Assad and the Syrian Kurds under conditions that preclude long-term U.S. influence in Syria.

"Russia is accelerating its effort to subvert the Syrian political process by establishing a new diplomatic framework that sets conditions to expel the U.S. from Northern Syria," said an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War this week.

Badran Ciya Kurd, an adviser for the Kurdish-led self-administration who met with Russian officials ahead of the invite to Sochi, said Russia supports the Kurdish federal project while the U.S. strategy has been vague.

"It is not yet clear what their (Americans) strategy is after Raqqa, and we would like to understand," he said, referring to the northern city liberated from Raqqa last month.

SHARED INTERESTS WITH IRAN

While Iran promised a foreign policy that would be "neither East nor West" after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Tehran has tilted toward Russia given its antipathy for Washington. Tehran relied on Moscow's support to complete its Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2011 and received Russia's S-300 surface-to-air missile system in 2016.

In that time, Russia and Iran also found themselves fighting to support the embattled Syrian president. The countries regularly coordinate on Syria and have provided overwhelming military and political aid to prop up Assad's government and army.

On a visit to Tehran on Wednesday, Putin strongly backed Iran and its nuclear deal with world powers, saying Moscow opposed "any unilateral change" to the accord after Trump refused to re-certify it.

Putin made the comments on a one-day trip to Tehran for trilateral talks between Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia, during which he met with both Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

GULF CONTRACTS

Across the Gulf Arab states, the U.S. has been the guarantor of security since the 1991 Gulf War. In recent years, however, Gulf countries have increasingly looked toward making defense deals with Russia, especially after growing wary of the U.S. detente with Iran under President Barack Obama. In the last weeks alone, Russia has gone big into Saudi Arabia, which supported the Afghan mujahedeen against Soviet troops in the 1980s.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia visited Moscow last month and signed multibillion-dollar energy deals with Russia, which also agreed to sell the Iranian rival its advanced S-400 missile system, which Tehran does not possess. Other deals would include Saudi Arabia locally producing Russian anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers and automatic grenade launchers, as well as the latest version of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.

King Salman's visit marked the first by any Saudi monarch to Moscow and heralded a new era of cooperation and a thawing in a bilateral relation that has been severely strained since Russia's military intervention in Syria on behalf of Assad.

CLOSE COOPERATION WITH ISRAEL

Israel and Russia maintain a close, if sometimes uneasy, relationship on regional issues — particularly when it comes to the war in neighboring Syria. In recent years, the Israeli and Russian air forces have been active in Syrian skies and have maintained, throughout the fighting, a hotline to prevent clashes between their air forces. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has also held a number of meetings and phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to discuss the situation in Syria.

Still, Israeli officials are concerned about Russia's cooperation with Iran. But they also believe that Russian and Iranian interests could diverge as both countries compete for lucrative reconstruction contracts and political influence in postwar Syria. Israeli officials believe that Russia considers Iran a potentially destabilizing force in postwar Syria, and are cautiously optimistic that Russia understands Israel's security concerns.

"Russian and Israeli interests in Syria may not be the same but that doesn't necessarily mean that Russia cannot play a constructive role in Syria in Israel's view or that certain understandings can't be reached between Russia and Israel with regard to Syria," said Chagai Tzuriel, the director general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry.

———

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Joe Federman in Jerusalem and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed reporting.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

AJ Burgess desperately needs a kidney transplant and his father was deemed the perfect match.
Source – abcnews.go.com

Trump announces company's return to US

A $100 billion semiconductor company based in Singapore will legally relocate its home address to the United States, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.

Broadcom Limited, which manufactures communications chips around the world, said it would relocate its legal address to Delaware once shareholders approve the move, bringing $20 billion in annual revenue back to the U.S. The move will allow Broadcom to avoid a cumbersome federal review process.

The Oval Office announcement was tied to the release of congressional Republicans' tax reform proposal, which would drastically reduce corporate rates and makes it easier for companies to deduct foreign taxes.

The company credits the GOP plan with making it easier to do business in the U.S. "America is once again the best place to lead a business with a global footprint," Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said.

However, Broadcom's move to the U.S. will take place regardless of whether the Republican plan passes, the company said.

A year ago, the company entered a $5.5 billion agreement to merge with U.S. network provider Brocade Communications Systems, but that has been delayed while it's scrutinized by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The high-level government committee, familiarly known as CFIUS, investigates proposed acquisitions of U.S. companies by foreign buyers on national security and intellectual property grounds.

By becoming a U.S.-based company, Broadcom can avoid the CFIUS process. Broadcom's corporate headquarters will remain in San Jose, California.

"I want to thank you very much for choosing us," said Trump, who based much of his campaign on the promise of bringing jobs back to the U.S. from overseas. The change in legal address won't create directly create new jobs or plants in the U.S., but the company says it will boost its domestic research and engineering spending.

Broadcom makes semiconductor chips used for a variety of products, from cable set-top boxes to smartphones and other wireless devices.

It's rooted in one of the largest-ever tech industry acquisitions, when Singapore-based Avago Technologies Ltd. bought Broadcom Corp. for $37 billion last year. The deal made Broadcom Ltd. the parent company of both Broadcom Corp. and Avago Technologies. By joining forces, the rival chipmakers hoped to make a bigger dent in the rapidly growing market for wireless devices.

Nearly 20 percent of its revenue in the most recent fiscal quarter came from sales to Apple and the contractors that manufacture Apple products, such as the Foxconn Technology Group.

About half of its revenue comes from China-based distributors and manufacturers, though the end products are used around the world.

The Singapore Economic Development Board has awarded the company with tax breaks for having a major presence there, but the company warned in a recent regulatory filing that one of those benefits terminates in 2021, four years earlier than expected.

About 39 percent of Broadcom's employees are in Asia.

Broadcom has 7,500 U.S. employees across 24 states, the company said. It has manufacturing facilities in Colorado and Pennsylvania and engineering offices in California and traces its origins to bluechip American companies like Bell Laboratories, Lucent, and Hewlett-Packard.

"The proposed tax reform package would level the global playing field and allow us to compete worldwide from here in the United States," Tan said in a statement. "Our move would domicile our $20 billion annual revenue in the United States. From our base here, each year we will invest $3 billion in research and engineering and $6 billion in manufacturing, resulting in more high-paying tech jobs."

———

O'Brien, the AP technology writer, reported from Boston.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Kevin Spacey seeking 'evaluation and treatment' after allegedly making sexual advance on minor

WATCH Producer Brett Ratner accused of sexual misconduct by 6 women

Actor Kevin Spacey said he will take some time to "seek evaluation and treatment" on Thursday after being accused of making an unwanted sexual advance toward a minor in the 1980s.

The news comes after Buzzfeed reported an allegation by "Star Trek: Discovery” star Anthony Rapp that Spacey climbed on top of him in bed in 1986 when he was 14 years old and Spacey was in his 20s.

A spokesperson for Spacey made the announcement in a statement released on Thursday, but did not provide any further details.

"Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment. No other information is available at this time,” the statement said.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, FILE

Spacey sparked a social media firestorm on Sunday after he posted a lengthy statement on Twitter addressing Rapp's allegations, claiming he did not remember the episode.

"I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I'm beyond horrified to hear this story," Spacey said Sunday. "I honestly do not remember the encounter … But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."

Kevin Spacey apologizes, comes out as gay after allegation of sexual advance on 14-year-old Backlash against Kevin Spacey for coming out in apology to Anthony Rapp 'House of Cards' will end after season 6

In the same statement, Spacey said that the situation had "encouraged" him to come out as a gay man.

Spacey received swift backlash from LGBT advocates who accused him of conflating homosexuality with pedophilia. Others accused the actor of trying to "hide under the rainbow," instead of acknowledging that Rapp was only 14 at the time of the alleged incident.

The Associated Press

“Coming-out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a tweet on Monday.

Coming out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault.

— Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) October 30, 2017

No no no no no! You do not get to “choose” to hide under the rainbow! Kick rocks! https://t.co/xJDGAxDjxz

— Official Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) October 30, 2017

Kevin Spacey's comment was wrong on so many levels. https://t.co/5pFhiqMK5W

— Larry Wilmore (@larrywilmore) October 30, 2017

Beau Willimon, creator of the hit Netflix show "House of Cards" in which Spacey stars, also reacted to the news on Monday in a statement posted to Twitter.

"Anthony Rapp's story is deeply troubling," he began. "During the time I worked with Kevin Spacey on 'House of Cards' I neither witnessed nor was aware of any inappropriate behavior on set or off. That said, I take reports of such behavior seriously, and this is no exception. I feel for Mr. Rapp and I support his courage."

On Tuesday, Netflix announced that it would suspend production of the show’s final season in wake of the accusations.

"Media Rights Capital and Netflix have decided to suspend production on 'House of Cards' season six, until further notice, to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew," Netflix said.

A Netflix representative confirmed to ABC News that the decision to end the show after its sixth season was made before the scandal broke.

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences also spoke out against Spacey Monday, and canceled its plans to award the actor with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award. The honor is meant to recognize individuals who cross cultural boundaries.

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Meghan McCain announces 'secret' engagement on 'The View': 'He is my partner'

WATCH Meghan McCain announces engagement on 'The View'

Meghan McCain is engaged!

The new "View" co-host, 33, confirmed that she was indeed engaged on the ABC daytime talk show after rumors first surfaced earlier this week. But she added that she wants to remind women that marriage is a choice and not necessarily an "achievement."

"I want all the single girls out there to know, I don't consider this an achievement. It's just part of my life right now," she said at the table Thursday.

John McCain's daughter shares emotional message after his cancer diagnosis Meghan McCain joins 'The View' as new co-host

Heidi Gutman/ABC via Getty Images

The daughter of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said she and her fiancé, whom she did not name, had tried to keep the news a secret.

"We've been together for years. And we have been engaged for a while," Meghan McCain admitted. "It was a secret. I was hoping to get married and people wouldn't find out, but people talk sometimes and I love him very much and I'm very happy."

Meghan McCain detailed how the two decided to pursue marriage. It was while her father was undergoing treatment for a brain tumor at Mayo Clinic.

ABC

"Well, we were at Mayo Clinic and my father had his scan and we got engaged because we decided to sort of celebrate life and celebrate being alive," she explained. "It's not the most romantic story, but he is my partner."

To which her co-host Joy Behar responded, "It's very romantic!"

Meghan McCain didn't share when she and her unidentified fiancé will walk down the aisle.

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Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis has told a jury of his shock and surprise when he learned of a £250m profit misstatement shortly after being appointed the boss of Britain's biggest supermarket.

He was giving evidence at the trial of three former senior directors who are accused of failing to correct inaccurately recorded income figures which were published to the City.

Carl Rogberg, John Scouler and Christopher Bush deny charges of fraud by abuse of position and false accounting.

Mr Lewis told the court he had already become concerned about the financial structure of the group following a preliminary meeting with finance executives on 14 August 2014, following the announcement of his appointment to replace Philip Clarke as chief executive.

He described how he volunteered to take up his post a month earlier than planned after receiving a call from then chairman Sir Richard Broadbent, who told him the company was poised to issue a profits warning.

Under questioning from Sasha Wass QC, prosecuting the case for the Serious Fraud Office, Mr Lewis outlined the situation the company found itself in when he took over.

He said he met the executive committee on 1 September 2014 at the company's headquarters in Hertfordshire.

Mr Lewis said: "I explained that clearly the business was in a difficult position.

"I asked them to alert me if there were any significant financial issues or indeed any reputational ones."

Mr Lewis explained that at another meeting on 4 September, Bush had raised concerns around the ability of making the UK side of the business more competitive, but that it was hard to afford to do that given the profits warning.

He added: "There was an awful lot of things in terms of the financial structure of the group that were deeply concerning. A lot of outstanding issues that needed attention."

The chief executive said he was told about the misstatement of profits on 19 September.

When asked what his immediate reaction had been, Mr Lewis replied: "One of surprise and one of shock really."

Tesco announced it in a statement to the stock market on 22 September – sparking a £2bn fall in its market value.

The trial continues.

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Source – News.sky.com

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis has told a jury of his shock and surprise when he learned of a £250m profit misstatement shortly after being appointed boss of Britain’s biggest supermarket.

He was giving evidence at the trial of three former senior directors who are accused of failing to correct inaccurately-recorded income figures which were published to the City.

Carl Rogberg, John Scouler and Christopher Bush have each pleaded not guilty to one count each of fraud by abuse of position and one count of false accounting.

Mr Lewis told the court he had already become concerned about the financial structure of the group following a preliminary meeting with finance executives on 14 August 2014, following the announcement of his appointment to replace Philip Clarke as CEO.

He described how he volunteered to take up his post a month earlier than planned after receiving a call from then-chairman, Sir Richard Broadbent, telling him the company was poised to issue a profits warning.

Under questioning from Sasha Wass QC, prosecuting the case for the Serious Fraud Office, Mr Lewis outlined the situation the company found itself in when he took over.

He said he met the executive committee on 1 September 2014 at the company's HQ In Hertfordshire.

Mr Lewis said: "I explained that clearly the business was in a difficult position.

"I asked them to alert me if there were any significant financial issues or indeed any reputational ones."

He explained that at another meeting on 4 September, Mr Bush had raised concerns around the ability of making the UK side of the business more competitive, but that it was hard to afford to do that given the profits warning.

Mr Lewis said: "There was an awful lot of things in terms of the financial structure of the group that were deeply concerning. A lot of outstanding issues that needed attention."

The chief executive said he was told about the mis-statement of profits on 19 September.

When asked what his immediate reaction had been, Mr Lewis replied: "One of surprise and one of shock really."

Tesco announced it in a statement to the stock market on 22 September – sparking a £2bn fall in its market value.

The trial continues.

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Source – News.sky.com