A senior judge is reported to be intending to enlist Interpol to bring former Ahold executives Cees van der Hoeven and Michael Meurs to Uruguay to help with investigations into a share transaction between the Dutch retail giant and its Latin American partner.
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Uruguay’s Judge Pablo Eguren is looking into what happened to $492m that was paid by Ahold in August last year for 100% control of Disco-Ahold International, Ahold’s joint venture with Velox Retail Holdings (VRH), reports the Financial Times.
Three members of the Peirano family, which runs VRH, have been taken into custody in Uruguay on charges of fraud. An arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth member of the family, Juan Peirano, who was chairman of Disco-Ahold until July last year.
Judge Eguren said a formal summons for the two Ahold executives would be made next week. “At this point, we do not know exactly how (the ex-Ahold executives) can help with our investigations. That only becomes clear as the investigation progresses,” the Financial Times quoted Eguren as saying.
Last August, Ahold was forced to buy out its partner when VRH defaulted on debt repayments. Sobi, the independent Dutch corporate watchdog, claims the $492m paid by Ahold should have gone to Uruguayan bank Banco Montevideo rather than VRH, because the shares were pledged to the bank as security for loans to VRH.
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By GlobalDataBanco Montevideo was also owned by the Peirano family. Last June it was placed under the control of the Uruguay central bank because of a liquidity crisis.
