More details on Steinhoff collapse could emerge with hand over of 2019 forensic report
The Steinhoff fraud is deemed to be South Africa's biggest corporate fraud scandal.
FILE: Former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste. Picture: Eyewitness News
CAPE TOWN - More details regarding the financial collapse of former furniture retailer, Steinhoff, could emerge in the coming days.
Wednesday is the deadline for Ibex, the company that has taken over former Steinhoff subsidiaries, to hand over a 2019 forensic report compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to media companies that went to court to demand access.
Ibex has issued a warning that the personal details of those named in the report will be shared with the applicants which include the Tiso Blackstar Group and the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The Steinhoff fraud is deemed to be South Africa's biggest corporate fraud scandal.
Earlier in December, Ibex RSA and Ibex Topco lost an appeal against a Western Cape High Court judgment that the PwC report into accounting irregularities at the now-liquidated Steinhoff Group be handed to the applicants under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
Until now, only an 11-page overview of the 7,000-page report has been made public.
It's been seven years since Steinhoff's late chief executive, Markus Jooste, dropped the bombshell about the accounting irregularities that sent the company's share price crashing.
In a statement, the Ibex Group said the full report that would be handed to journalists on Wednesday contains not only the personal information of former employees, directors, and officers of the Steinhoff Group between 2009 and 2017 but also that of service providers, those who had business dealings with the group and others who were interviewed by PwC.
However, the company said the report does not delve into the private lives of any of those named.
In its ruling of 4 December, the Supreme Court of Appeal said Steinhoff was dishonest and used illegal means to maintain its businesses and deceive investors about the profitability of the company.
Given the millions in pension funds that were lost by ordinary South Africans, the court has found there's no basis to shield the report from public scrutiny and the public interest outweighs other considerations.
Jooste committed suicide earlier this year, on the eve of a pending arrest, and a day after being fined R475 million by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority for misleading the market.
So far, only two executives have faced criminal proceedings for the Steinhoff fraud.
Former CFO, Ben le Grange, is currently serving a suspended ten-year sentence, while the case against the company’s former legal head, Stehan Grobler, is still pending.