Van der Hoeven found guilty

Cees van der Hoeven, the former chief executive of Dutch grocer Ahold, has been found guilty of the fraud that almost destroyed the retailer three years ago.

Van der Hoven was charged alongside former chief financial officer Micahel Meurs and former colleagues with falsifying documents, misleading the group's auditor Deloitte and publishing incorrect financial statements. Each has been fined E225,000 (£153,000) and given a nine-month suspended sentence, despite calls for longer sentences from the prosecutors.

The trial began at the Amsterdam courts in early March this year, three years after the accountancy scandal that nearly crippled the store group. All defendants originally pleaded not guilty.