Two-Thirds Of 'Cheshunt Nine' Leave Tesco
Two-thirds of the executives suspended over Tesco's £263m profits overstatement scandal have left the supermarket giant.
Sky News understands that William Linnane, the head of buying for impulse purchases, is to leave the company as part of a vast programme of redundancies just weeks after being reinstated to his role.
His exit will follow that of Sean McCurley, who also temporarily returned to Tesco after being asked to stand aside from his job.
Of the nine managers suspended following the emergence of its supplier revenues issues, two-thirds have either left Tesco or are in the process of departing.
Matt Simister, Dan Jago and Chris Robinson are the only members of the so-called 'Cheshunt Nine' who are remaining in Tesco's employment, sources said on Monday.
Last week, Sky News revealed that John Scouler, another one of those suspended, was joining TalkTalk in a senior commercial role.
The resolution of their fate comes amid a plan being implemented by Dave Lewis, the new chief executive, to make thousands of staff redundant
Tesco denied on Monday that it had received applications for voluntary redundancy which outnumbered the roles being axed.
Last month, the supermarket giant named John Allan, the former chairman of Dixons Retail, as its next chairman.
Mr Allan will have to contend with a criminal investigation into the supplier payments by the Serious Fraud Office, while the Groceries Code Adjudicator and the Financial Reporting Council are undertaking separate inquiries.
He will also be charged with helping Dave Lewis, the new chief executive, navigate what analysts say is the toughest environment for big food retailers for many years.
In January, Mr Lewis outlined proposals to relocate Tesco's head office, close dozens of stores and terminate its defined benefit pension scheme in an effort to save costs.
He also plans to sell a stake in Dunnhumby, its customer loyalty arm, and has announced a long-term price-cutting initiative across hundreds of core grocery items.
The debate over Tesco's decline was recently reignited when Sir Terry Leahy, the former chief executive, blamed his successor, Philip Clarke, for "a failure of leadership".
A series of profit warnings last year led to Mr Clarke being sacked, but analysts pointed out that some of Tesco's least successful initiatives in recent years, including its expansion into the US and China, had taken place during Sir Terry's tenure.
Last month, Tesco said it would pay more than £2m in "liquidated damages" to Mr Clarke and Laurie McIlwee, its former finance director, after concluding that there was no legal basis for withholding the payments.
Tesco declined to comment on Mr Linnane or the other members of the 'Cheshunt Nine'.
