Cees van der Hoeven, former chief executive of Dutch food retailer Royal Ahold, has had his conviction for involvement in the company's 2003 accounting scandal upheld by the Amsterdam Appeals Court, although his orginal sentence has been reduced to €30,000.

Mr Van der Hoeven and former chief financial officer Michiel Meurs were both found guilty of fraud during the intial court case in 2006, receiving nine-month suspended sentences and €225,000 fines.

Judges also cut Mr Meurs' suspended sentence to six months, 240 hours of community service and a €100,000 fine. Jan Andreae, the company's former European manager, had his sentence reduced from €120,000 and a 4-month suspended sentence to €50,000 and a 3-month suspended sentence.

Roland Fahlin, meanwhile, a former Ahold board member and then chairman of the company's accounting committee, saw his original acquittal upheld.

The decision comes six years after Ahold teetered on the brink of bankruptcy in February 2003 in the wake of a major accounting fraud surrounding its financial reports between 1999 and 2002.

Both Mr Van der Hoeven and Mr Meurs resigned, stating that the accuracy of the company's books could not be relied on. It later emerged that the group had overstated its profits by in excess of €1bn for the three-year period, with the bulk of that exaggeration taking place at its US Foodservice subsidiary.

During Mr Van der Hoeven's tenure, Royal Ahold spent more than €14bn on acquisitions, becoming the world’s third-largest retailer in the process.

However, following the accounting scandal and the discovery of similar at its US chain Tops Markets, the company was forced to divest a number of subsidiaries and shareholdings in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

John Rishton has been chief executive officer since November 2007, having served in this role in an interim capacity since July 2007. He took over from former Ikea boss Anders Moberg, who came in to steady the ship and restore investor confidence in 2003.

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