Almost R67 million from Steinhoff accused forfeited to the state

The South African Reserve Bank has declared R67 million from Steinhoff accused Stéhan Grobler, former company secretary and head of legal, forfeited to the state in terms of Exchange Control Regulation 22B.

Fundi Tshazibana, deputy governor of the Prudential Cluster of the South African Reserve Bank, published the notice about the forfeiture in the Government Gazette on Friday. The list of Grobler’s assets includes shares in various private entities, such as Suez Beleggings, Steff Grobler Beherende (Edms.) BPK. and Keurview Aandeleblok Bpk.

The most valuable of Grobler’s assets is the R66 167 405 Suez Beleggings owes him, while R871 652 held in the Stéhan Grobler Trust at Momentum Wealth was also seized.

Grobler (64) is out on R150 000 bail after he appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in March on charges of racketeering, three counts of fraud worth R21 billion, manipulation of financial statements and failure to report fraudulent activities.

He was supposed to appear with Markus Jooste, former CEO of Steinhoff, but Jooste shot himself the day before. According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Jooste and Grobler allegedly conducted racketeering activities within the Steinhoff group, as certain executive employees captured it.

ALSO READ: UPDATE: Suspect pleads guilty after being arrested for Steinhoff insider trading

Grobler allegedly created documentation for fraudulent transactions

Lumka Mahanjana, the NPA’s regional spokesperson for the Gauteng division, said it is also alleged that Grobler created documentation of transactions that supported the fraudulent transactions used to inflate and falsify the annual financial statement of the Steinhoff Group.

Grobler told the court in an affidavit that he intends to plead not guilty to the charges and will prove his innocence. The State opposed his bail application because Grobler committed a very serious offence, which carries a penalty clause of a billion rand or a life sentence.

The matter was postponed to next year for further investigation. Steinhoff is also suing Grobler for almost R300 million he was paid in salaries, bonuses and other incentives. According to Business Day, this amount includes R238 million from Steinhoff Africa Holdings, €1.3 million from Steinhoff Europe Group Services and €315 000 from Steinhoff Europe.

The Steinhoff entities said in their particulars of claim the money was paid to Grobler in the false belief that the financial statements of the group accurately reflected its true financial position, as well as its profitability and performance.

ALSO READ: Who could still be charged for financial irregularities at Steinhoff?

Grobler is one of eight implicated in PwC’s Steinhoff investigation report

Grobler was one of eight implicated people mentioned in a PwC report on the collapse of Steinhoff. Their names were made public when the chairperson of the finance committee, Yunus Carrim, insisted in a meeting of the parliamentary standing committees on finance and public accounts together with the portfolio committees on trade and industry and public service and administration that their names be released.

Then-CEO of Steinhoff, Louis du Preez, then told the meeting the implicated people mentioned in the PwC report are directors of Steinhoff Markus Jooste, Dirk Schreiber, Stéhan Grobler and Ben le Grange, as well as Siegmar Schmidt, Alan Evans, Jean-Noel Pasquier and Davide Ramano from outside Steinhoff.

Le Grange was the financial head of Steinhoff from March 2013 to December 2017. He was supposed to appear with Grobler in court earlier this month but entered a plea and sentence agreement with the state for one count of fraud exceeding R367 million for manipulating financial statements and failing to report fraudulent activities.

He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment of which five years were suspended for five years on the condition that he does not commit fraud during this period and cooperate as a witness for the state in future criminal cases involving directors, officers and employees of the Steinhoff group.

The JSE fined him R2 million for violating listing rules and barred him from holding an office in a listed company for ten years.

ALSO READ: Former Steinhoff CFO Ben la Grange gets five years jail time after guilty plea for fraud

Steinhoff court appearances in Germany

Schreiber was CEO of Steinhoff Europe Group Services since October 2011 and received a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence from a German court in Oldenburg in August last year. Schmidt was CEO of Steinhoff Europe Group Services before Schreiber and the Oldenburg court gave him a suspended sentence of two years.

Alan Evans was Jooste’s British co-defendant and according to News24 he appeared in the Oldenburg court in Germany on 18 April 2023 and agreed to a fine of €30 000 (R610 000). Pasquier is French and according to Viceroy Research, he was the director of many of Steinhoff’s off-balance sheet entities including Campion Capital and its subsidiaries.

Ramano, an Italian, was also a director of Campion Capital, according to News24. Schreiber, Schmidt, Evans, Pasquier and Romano have not publicly commented on being named by PwC.