10-year sentence handed to former Steinhoff CFO lenient given his offence: Corruption Watch

JOHANNESBURG - Corruption Watch says the 10-year prison sentence handed to former Steinhoff CFO Andries la Grange is lenient, given his offence.

La Grange was sentenced on Thursday in the Pretoria Specialised Crimes Court, with five years suspended.

He entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State for one count of fraud amounting to over R367 million.

He's accused of committing fraud on the instruction of the company’s former CEO, Markus Jooste, to overstate their profits.

Jooste died by suicide earlier this year.

Corruption Watch’s Karam Singh said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) may have had to consider other factors when entering an agreement with La Grange.

"The fact that he has turned State witness, the fact that he is cooperating, the fact that he is a so-called first-time offender, led the NPA down this road but also the challenge around prosecuting these cases."

The NPA, meanwhile, has hailed the sentencing La Grange as a major breakthrough in the fight against corporate fraud.

The fraud, which dates back to 2016, involved manipulating financial statements under the orders of Jooste.

The NPA’s Lumka Mahanjane welcomed the sentence, praising the work of investigators and prosecutors who have spent years uncovering the extent of the fraud.

"Securing a second conviction and sentence in the Steinhoff matter in just a week is a reflection that even though the wheels of justice turn slowly, impunity no longer prevails, and those accused of complex commercial crime now know that it is a matter of when the dreaded knock on their door comes."

As part of his plea deal, La Grange will also testify against other executives involved, with more arrests expected as the case continues to unfold.