Tesco takes legal action against Guardian newspaper

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - British supermarket group Tesco (TSCO.L) has begun legal proceedings against publishers of the Guardian newspaper and its editor Alan Rusbridger for libel and malicious falsehood, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer with operations in 14 countries, said it was taking the action over allegations made by the Guardian concerning its tax affairs.

"We feel driven to take this action because we cannot allow Tesco's reputation to be so seriously attacked with such wilful disregard for the truth," Tesco Executive Director of Corporate and Legal Affairs Lucy Neville-Rolfe said in a statement.

Tesco said the Guardian knowingly misled its readers in a series of articles and a podcast published on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28 by wrongly alleging that Tesco had contrived a tax avoidance structure.

A spokesman for Guardian News and Media Ltd, the publishers of the Guardian, was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Rachel Sanderson; Editing by Quentin Bryar)