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

Former Steinhoff chief financial officer (CFO) Andries “Ben” la Grange has been sentenced to five years in prison.

La Grange appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Thursday, where the ruling was delivered.

He initially faced charges of racketeering, fraud, and failure to report fraudulent activities.

In June, he was granted bail of R150 000 under strict conditions.

Steinhoff’s Ben la Grange sentenced

After previously signalling his intention to plead not guilty, La Grange has now entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the state in terms of section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act.

The former Steinhoff executive has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, with five years suspended, after pleading guilty to one count of fraud involving over R367 million.

The suspension was conditional on La Grange not being convicted of fraud during the suspension period.

Additionally, the 50-year-old would be required to cooperate with authorities by providing evidence in any future criminal cases against Steinhoff directors, officers, and employees.

ALSO READ: NPA secures first conviction and sentence in Steinhoff fraud case

La Grange was accused of playing a significant role in the financial misconduct that led to Steinhoff’s collapse in 2017.

The former CFO manipulated financial statements and failed to report fraudulent activities between 2014 and 2016.

In 2022, he was fined R2 million by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) for violating listing rules and barred from holding office in a public company for 10 years.

NPA’s second conviction on Steinhoff

La Grange’s sentencing is the second conviction the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has secured in relation to Steinhoff.

Gerhardus Diedricks Burger, an associate of former Steinhoff chief executive officer (CEO) Markus Jooste, also agreed to a plea deal with the state.

Burger received a five-year suspended sentence last week after pleading guilty to insider trading.

READ MORE: Steinhoff legal head Stephan Grobler to plead not guilty

The National Prosecuting Authority and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), known as the Hawks, welcomed the latest development.

“Securing a second conviction and sentence in the Steinhoff matter in just a week is a reflection that even though the wheels of justice turn slowly, impunity no longer prevails, and those accused of complex commercial crime now know that it is a matter of when the dreaded knock on their door comes,” Lumka Mahanjana, the spokesperson of NPA’s Gauteng division in Pretoria, said in a statement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, former Steinhoff legal head Stephanus Grobler is expected to appear in court on Friday.

Grobler revealed in an affidavit he deposed that he intends to plead not guilty to the charges and will prove his innocence.

Markus Jooste’s death

The NPA and Hawks have been investigating Steinhoff following an audit scandal that revealed the company inflated its profits by R100 billion.

The multinational holding company, which had a 43.8% stake in the local Pepkor group, was officially liquidated in October 2023.

The NPA labelled Steinhoff as “one of the biggest cases of corporate fraud in the history of South Africa”.

READ MORE: Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste’s death still under investigation, police say 

“This case has been one of the most complex commercial crime cases that the DPCI and the NPA have had to deal with,” Mahanjana added.

Jooste, the mastermind, allegedly died by suicide in March this year, after being notified of the arrest warrants secured by the law enforcement agencies, thus, “escaping the hands of justice”, said the NPA.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) had fined Jooste R475 million the day before his death.