Cape Town — Former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste did not attend the opening of his criminal trial in Germany on Tuesday April 18, 2023. His legal team claims that he had passport problems and that he ran the risk of being arrested if he tried to leave South Africa.
Jooste is on trial in the German courts for balance sheet manipulation. Four of Steinhoff's South African company executives are being charged - Jooste among them. One associate George Evans was told to pay an admission of guilt penalty of €30,000 (R600,000) to end his involvement in the case.
Jooste claims that a 2017 agreement was made with South African authorities, whereby he is not allowed to leave South Africa for fear of arrest, but the South African government denies any such agreement.
Jooste's German defence team led by lawyer Bernd Groß, blamed the South African Department of Justice for preventing Jooste from attending his criminal trial in Germany this week - but this has been denied by the government, News24 reports.
Police investigative unit, The Hawks, have confirmed that it is not in possession of Jooste's passport, eNCA reports. German prosecutors have been scathing and say Jooste's defence team did not do enough to get the alleged fraudster to Germany.
Jooste's hasty resignation as CEO of furniture and household goods giant Steinhoff on December 5, 2017 sent alarm bells ringing - loudly. In December 2017, auditors Deloitte flagged accounting irregularities at the firm and refused to sign off on its audit.
The firm lost billions of U.S. dollars when a closer inspection of its financials revealed that figures had been inflated to paint a rosy picture for investors and shareholders.
A subsequent investigation carried out by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, confirmed that Steinhoff recorded fictitious or irregular transactions totalling €6.5-billion over a period spanning the 2009 and 2017 financial years. The firm's audit for 2017 also had to be redone after irregularities were found.
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The ensuing fallout revealed what has become known as South Africa's biggest fraud case.
Steinhoff's share price took a drastic dip losing 95% of its value at the time of the discovery, with many shareholders losing their savings.
In 2018 Steinhoff said it effectively averted the threat of imminent collapse, while securing 120,000 jobs attached to its global operations - 50,000 of which are in South Africa.
Jooste, together with three executives, was also fined over U.S.$13 million by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority for insider trading, after Jooste contacted four friends on November 30, 2017, advising them to dispose of their Steinhoff shares - three of whom acted on his instruction.
The South African Reserve Bank swooped on properties owned by Markus Jooste on October 18, 2022 and assets to the value of U.S.$65.8 million were confiscated. Jooste also appeared at a South African parliamentary committee to explain the Steinhoff collapse, yet up to now, no one has been held accountable. The German court case however, may bring closure to a case in which many lost everything.
The case has been postponed until Jooste appears in court.
