(Bloomberg) -- The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office said five people have been arrested and questioned over alleged accounting fraud at the Patisserie Valerie bakery chain.
They were taken into custody Tuesday with the help of police in Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and the Metropolitan Police Services, the office said in an emailed statement, which didn't identify the people.
A well-known fixture on Britain's shopping streets, Patisserie Valerie collapsed in January after more than 90 years in business following an investigation that revealed thousands of false entries in its accounts and resulted in 920 people losing their jobs. The company was unable to raise money or pay its debts, and was eventually rescued by Irish private-equity firm Causeway Capital Partners.
Read more: Luke Johnson's column on Patisserie Valerie's collapse
Patisserie Valerie's former chairman, Luke Johnson, wasn't among those arrested, according to the Sunday Times, where he's a columnist. Neither were non-executive directors Lee Ginsberg and James Horler, who were reported to have been interviewed as witnesses and not suspects.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka, Matthew G. Miller
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