SFO arrests five as Patisserie Valerie scandal grinds on<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Late last year, the popular bakery chain Patisserie Valerie was rocked after it discovered a financial black hole<\/a> in its accounts. On top of that\u00a0a \u00a31m plus tax bill was left unpaid, prompting a winding-up order from\u00a0HMRC.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s collapse was prevented at the last minute by a \u00a320m unsecured loan from its chairman Luke Johnson and an extra \u00a315m<\/a> from its shareholders by issuing new shares. But even this wasn\u2019t enough to save the nearly 100-year old business.<\/p>\n In January, the chain slid into administration after it was unable to extend its bank facilities<\/a> as the true scale of the \u201csignificant fraud\u201d in the company\u2019s past accounts came to light. At the time, Patisserie Valerie had 206 outlets and 3,000 staff.\n<\/p>\n Interim CFO Nick Perrin explained in a company update that the company’s forensic accountants had \u201crevealed that the misstatement of its accounts was extensive, involving very significant manipulation of the balance sheet and profit and loss accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n