The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has granted Stephanus Johannes Grobler, the former Director of Steinhoff a R150 000 bail. He is facing charges of racketeering, three counts of fraud worth R21 billion, manipulation of financial statements and failure to report fraudulent activities.
Steinhoff was a multinational holding company that was listed in Germany and South Africa and was officially liquidated on 13 October 2023. Grobler handed himself over at the Pretoria Central Police Station last week Friday and spent a weekend in jail.
His co-accused, former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste committed suicide last week Thursday in Hermanus, Western Cape, a day before he was expected to also hand himself over the police. According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) between 2014 and 2016, Jooste and Grobler conducted racketeering activities within the Steinhoff group, as it was captured by certain executive employees.
“During that period, it is alleged that Jooste played a major role in the management of the criminal enterprise.
Furthermore, it is 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,” said National Prosecuting Authority Regional
Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
In his affidavit, Grobler told the court that he intended to plead not guilty to the charges and would prove his innocence. The state opposed his bail application, arguing that he committed a very serious offence, which carries a penalty clause of a billion rand or a life sentence, and that he was a flight risk.
