Steinhoff’s Markus Jooste couldn’t find his passport – misses German court date

Disgraced former Steinhoff chief executive officer (CEO) Markus Jooste has failed to appear in a German court on charges of accounting fraud.

Steinhoff trial

Jooste on Tuesday was expected to appear in the Oldenburg regional court for the start of his trial, but he was a no-show due to missing travel documents.

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His lawyer reportedly told the presiding judges in the matter, Jooste had problems with his passport and it appeared his passport was with his South African lawyers, News24 reported.

Co-accused persons

Jooste’s co-accused George Alan Evans, a director of the Geneva-based Campion Capital SA, was present in court.

The 72-year-old’s case will reportedly be heard separately from Jooste.

With regard to Jooste’s failure to appear in court, the trial judges will decide what to do about that, and a decision is expected in the next few weeks.

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Two former Steinhoff executives Dirk Schreiber and Siegmar Schmidt – both former managing directors of Steinhoff Europe Group Services and Tau Enterprises – also face their own court case over the accounting fraud scandal.

Jooste, Evans, Schreiber and Schmidt were charged in 2021 with balance sheet fraud.

Schreiber and Schmidt’s case is expected to start next month.

The accounting scandal emerged in late 2017, after Jooste resigned amid an investigation into accounting irregularities. At the time, Steinhoff’s share price plunged by 90% in a week, wiping over R200 billion off the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

According to Bloomberg, transactions were allegedly used to manipulate Steinhoff’s balance sheets. The value of the company’s real estate assets was also allegedly inflated by 820 million euros. 

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