Ahold has settled another legal dispute with a former executive over the retailer’s accounting scandal in 2003.

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James Miller, former CEO of US Foodservice, the catering business owned by Ahold until this summer, has agreed to pay the Dutch retail giant US$8m.


Ahold said the litigation between the company and Miller will be “terminated”. Ahold added: “The settlement does not imply acknowledgement of liability by James Miller.”


Ahold sold its Foodservice business to two private equity groups, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR, for US$7.1bn in July.


In October, Ahold’s former CEO and CFO also settled with the company and agreed to pay a combined EUR5.6m (US$8.1m).

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The settlements dated from 2003 when Ahold went to the brink of bankruptcy. Former CEO Cees van der Hoeven and ex-CFO Michiel Meurs resigned and it then emerged that the company had overstated earnings by over EUR1bn from 1999 to 2002.


Last year, Van der Hoeven and Meurs were fined by a Dutch court and given nine-month suspended sentences, a decision under appeal by both sides.

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