LONDON (Dow Jones) -- U.S. lawyers acting for shareholders in a class action against Dutch retailer Royal Ahold NV (AHO)and its former chief executive and former chief financial officer said Wednesday that they could add Ahold's auditors, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu International (X. DET), to the claim.

U.S. law firm Wolf Popper LLP late Tuesday filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging securities fraud against Ahold, ex-CEO Cees van der Hoeven and ex-CFO Adriaan Michiel Meurs.

"It is possible we could add Deloitte as defendant to the action ... we are investigating this," attorney Marian Rosner told Dow Jones Newswires.

The action has been brought in the name of a U.S. shareholder, but Rosner said the firm had been contacted by a number of European shareholders who may be included as plaintiffs in the action together with Americans seeking damages in what she says is a multimillion dollar claim.

The complaint alleges misrepresentations of the company's results during the period March 6, 2001, through Feb. 21, 2003, inclusive, by "improperly recognizing income in Ahold's U.S. Foodservice operations."

By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires