NRC reports: Ex-Ahold executives sentenced (and they got off lightly if you ask me)

The Amsterdam appeals court sentenced three former executives of Dutch supermarket group Ahold on Wednesday to suspended sentences and fines over an accountancy fraud revealed by the company in 2003. In the Netherlands' biggest ever corporate accountancy fraud, Ahold had revealed massive bookkeeping irregularities at its US Foodservice business and other foreign subsidiaries, overstating profits by almost 1 billion euros.

Former chief executive Cees van der Hoeven was sentenced to pay a fine of 30,000 euros, while former chief financial officer Michiel Meurs was given 240 hours of community labour, a fine of 100,000 euros and a six-month suspended sentence. Former management board member Jan Andreae was given a three-month suspended sentence and a fine of 50,000 euros. Former supervisory board member Roland Fahlin was acquitted, a confirmation of the lower court's ruling. The new sentences were lighter than those imposed by a lower court in May 2006.
[via NRC Handelsblad online]

Soseki

Admittedly, I did not have much time for new postings recently. But now I'm taking a short break from all the legal questions on my desk to introduce you to the restaurant where I ate a delicious meal today. At Soseki, chef Kurokawa-san and his team prepare excellent food and serve it in an oasis of peace, right next-door to the Gherkin.

If you want to have a confidential meeting, away from the eyes and ears of competitors or colleagues, you can book a table for 2 or 4 in a separate "compartment". If you would like to watch how the food is being prepared, take a seat at the bar.

What if...?

A slightly different topic for today's post. It had to be the day when the new US president was inaugurated that I stumbled about this amusing "what if" presentation at English Russia. One of the designs I liked most was the 500 Euro note (see above).

via Cynical-C

Play the bailout game!

Only the future will tell, whether the bailout packages that have been put together in the western industrialised countries will turn out to have been a good idea. If you think you would have done a better job, demonstrate your skills by playing "the bailout game" (click here to play). If you need help, you can always "ask a Greenberg"

Good luck!!

via (http://www.ritholtz.com/blog)

On the road again...

I'm on a business trip, so the next post will appear only after I have returned.

Yum yum!

Whenever a restaurant in or near the City is particularly good, I gladly mention it in a posting. This applies even more if it is a new place that may not yet be so well known.

Hence my recommendation for "The Modern Pantry". The restaurant has its own website (http://www.themodernpantry.co.uk/) for more information and - being situated at St John's Square in Clerkenwell - can easily be reached from the City.

2008 was the year of bad news

Hence it could not end without the employee of the Frankurt stock exchange that I have mentioned several times before (see here, here, here and here) appearing once more - on the same level as Barack Obama! (see Financial Times - Weekend Eedition before Christmas)

Gimme the money!

According to a report by the Times (click here) sharholders of Northern Rock are due to claim that the value of their shares (5 pence) established during the nationalisation wrongly assumed that the bank was no longer a "going concern" and demand compensation.

Interestingly the state's "deep pockets" remain to be a more attractive target to the sharholders of Northern Rock than those of the bank's leadership (and their D&O insureres).