Guardian issues Tesco apology

The Guardian has apologised to Tesco for alleging the company was involved in a £1bn corporation tax dodge involving Cayman Islands companies.

The newspaper said it had agreed to pay 'a sum by way of damages to a charity of Tesco's choice and a payment by way of costs'.

When Accountancy Age contacted The Guardian for details around figures and the designated charity, the spokesman was unwilling to disclose further information.

An apology from The Guardian, which appeared on the front page of the paper today, reads: 'In these articles we reported that Tesco had created an elaborate off-shore corporate structure to avoid paying up to £1bn in UK corporation tax on profits from the sale of its UK properties and that it had already successfully avoided corporation tax on the £500m profit it made from its first two property sales.'

The Guardian acknowledges the reports were damaging and unfounded and should not have been published.

'We are happy to put the record straight and apologise to Tesco,' the statement read.

The reports published include 'Tesco's £1bn tax avoiding plan - move to the Cayman Islands' and 'Every little bit helps: tax free pot of gold at end of Tesco's rainbow' on 27 February, 2008 and a related editorial and podcast.

Further Reading:

Read The Guardian's apology

Tesco sues The Guardian over avoidance claims