A criminal investigation into Dutch retailer Ahold got underway at the weekend with a raid on the company’s headquarters and offices of its accountants Deloitte & Touche.
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A Dutch public prosecutor said the specialised fiscal and economic crime unit, FIOD-ECD, had raided the offices as part of a probe regarding the consolidation of several joint ventures.
A spokeswoman for Ahold confirmed that “several boxes” of documents had been seized during the raid, but said it would be improper to comment further while the investigation is continuing.
“The suspicions (of falsification) are based on some side letters presented by Ahold concerning the consolidation of joint ventures in Sweden/Norway, Brazil, Guatamala and Argentina,” the prosecutor was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The Dutch justice authorities received some documents from Ahold in April after secret letters accompanying contracts related to Scandinavian joint venture ICA were uncovered by the media. The letters allowed Ahold to fully consolidate the joint venture even though its did not have effective control.
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By GlobalDataAhold said in a statement that it had given its full cooperation to this investigation and is cooperating fully with the Dutch public prosecutor.
