Troubled Dutch retailer Royal Ahold may have known about problems in the accounts of its US Foodservice unit as early as 2001, it has been reported.

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A senior finance officer at US Foodservice brought the potential accounts problems to the attention of the Dutch headquarters of Ahold in 2001, reported the Financial Times, citing an anonymous former Ahold executive.


The former executive reportedly said Ernie Smith left US Foodservice three months after being appointed chief financial officer of Ahold’s US unit because he was allegedly uncomfortable with the accounting standards at US Foodservice. The former executive claimed Smith had alerted senior Ahold finance officials about the accounting problems, but nothing was done about it. Smith declined to comment.


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