Norton Rose Fulbright is among a trio of firms advising as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged three former Tesco executives with fraud, following an investigation into the supermarket giant's 2014 accounting scandal.

Tesco's former UK managing director Christopher Bush, finance director Carl Rogberg and UK food commercial director John Scouler were each charged with fraud by abuse of position last week and are due to appear in court on 22 September.

Norton Rose London disputes partner Neil O'May is advising Rogberg in relation to the charges, with Scouler turning to BCL Burton Copeland partner Richard Sallybanks and Bush being represented by Hickman & Rose partner Ross Dixon.

The scandal became public in 2014 when a whistleblower revealed that Tesco had overstated its half-year profits by £250m, plunging the retailer into crisis and sending its share price plummeting.

Each of the lawyers representing Tesco's management has experience defending clients under investigation by the SFO.

O'May, who was previously head of criminal law at Bindmans before he joined Norton Rose in 2012, recently defended the billionaire Victor Dahdaleh, who was investigated by the SFO. The case was one of the largest prosecutions undertaken by the SFO in relation to bribery and corruption to date. Dahdaleh was acquitted of all the charges brought by the SFO.

Sallybanks' experience in SFO matters includes his instruction to advise Mabey and Johnson in relation to an overseas corruption and sanctions case.

Stephen Parkinson, a partner at Kingsley Napley, is representing Tesco.