The former chief executive of Steinhoff, Markus Jooste. Picture Armand Hough/African News Agency (ANA)
The former CEO of Steinhoff International Holdings NV, Markus Jooste, will soon have his day in court.
This comes after the Oldenburg regional court in Germany said on Thursday that four people would go on trial over charges of accounting fraud.
While no date has been set for proceedings against Jooste, the court said that the case against two former Steinhoff executives, who worked in Germany, is set to begin on 3 May.
While the court did not say that Jooste was one of the individuals to go on trial, it did refer to the 61-year-old CEO of Steinhoff International Holdings, who held that position until the end of 2017.
Jooste, two former Steinhoff executives and a fourth accused were charged last year with balance-sheet fraud carried out between July 2011 and January 2015.
The case was split in two to avoid delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jooste is suspected of contravening foreign exchange regulations that saw investors lose more than R200 billion.
Earlier this year, the South African Reserve Bank attached assets belonging to Jooste worth millions of rands.
Jooste is the alleged ringleader in a financial fraud that saw investors lose more than R200 billion and resulted in the 95% collapse of the share price in 2017.
Apart from Jooste, other respondents in the attachment order were listed as his son Michael, Gary Harlow and Rian du Plessis, who are trustees of the Jooste family trust, Silveroak, his wife Ingrid, Lanzerac Estate Investments, the Registrar of Deeds in Cape Town and Petrus Albertus Venter.
Last year, SARB investigators attached the assets of Berdine Odendaal, who is believed to have been Jooste’s romantic partner.
The financial collapse of Steinhoff saw thousands of local and foreign investors, ranging from small to major shareholders, losing their investments.
In South Africa, these included the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and well-known businessman Christo Wiese.
BUSINESS REPORT