Tesco to pay 129 million pound to settle false accounting charges

Britain's biggest retailer Tesco has agreed to pay a 129 million pound ($162 million) fine to settle an investigation by prosecutors over a 2014 profit overstatement, it said on Tuesday.

The supermarket group has struck a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) after months of talks with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Tesco said the DPA was the subject of a preliminary court ruling on Monday and the SFO and the firm's UK unit Tesco Stores Limited will now seek final judicial approval to the DPA from the court on April 10.

The DPA relates to false accounting by Tesco's UK business between February 2014 and September 2014.

It is a voluntary agreement under which Tesco will not be prosecuted provided the business fulfils certain requirements, including paying the fine.