Tesco chief handed £1m payoff just a week before the scandal

Tesco's finance chief quit the supermarket giant with a £1million payoff a week before the accounting scandal that came to light yesterday.

Laurie McIlwee, 52, is one of a number of senior executives facing serious questions about what they knew of how the company came to over-state its profits by £250million.

He resigned from his £886,000-a-year chief financial officer position in April after reportedly clashing with then-chief executive Philip Clarke amid falling profits.

But he arranged to stay for another six months on full salary, also negotiating a potential bonus of up to £886,000 plus a ‘golden goodbye’ of £970,800 when he finally stepped down.

Mr McIlwee left Tesco just over a week ago, days before the discovery of the massive accounting problem dating from his time in charge of financial matters.

This has left the supermarket giant with no finance director until his replacement Alan Stewart joins from Marks and Spencer in December.

Company accounts show Mr McIlwee earned £1.5million last year, including a salary of £800,000, benefits of £119,000 and £537,000 from his pension.

He received £33,000 in car benefits and £31,000 for a driver, with an extra £29,000 on security for his home, amid fears Tesco bosses could be targeted by disgruntled customers.

Mr McIlwee joined Tesco in 2000 from PepsiCo, although some doubted his credentials because he had no background in running supermarkets.

He was promoted to the board in 2009 and, that year paid £2,750,000 for a huge nine-bedroom gated home in the heart of a stunning 5,000-acre National Trust estate in Hertfordshire.

The Staffordshire-born executive lives in the house, now worth £4.2million, with his second wife, Lavinia, 44. The family home had an impressive convoy of cars outside yesterday, including a Range Rover and a BMW. A woman at the property said Mr McIlwee was not available for comment.

Whiffs a little, doesn't it?