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Media Statement PRETORIA – Two suspects are expected to appear before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court today, 14 February 2025, on charges of Contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 21 of 1998 (POCA), Contravention of section 81 of the Financial Markets Act 12, and Contravention of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 as well as Contravention of section 34 of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004 (PRECCA). The two suspects between the ages of 63 and 67 handed themselves over this morning, 14 February 2025 to the members of the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in Pretoria. Their arrests is in relation to an ongoing investigation regarding fraudulent activities that took place at Steinhoff International Group. It is alleged that during the period between October and November 2017, Steinhoff auditors, refused to sign off on the 2016 annual financial statements of the group. A stock Exchange News Service (SENS) announcement by the Steinhoff Group informed shareholders that in light of the new information of accounting irregularities further investigation was required, for which an alternative auditor was appointed to perform an independent investigation. Consequently, Steinhoff could not publish their annual financial results. It is further alleged by the complainant that the suspects who were holding executive positions at Steinhoff, created fictitious transactions to the value of 6.5 billion euros (R197 billion) which resulted in the impact on share index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and Frankfurt Security Exchange (FSE). This financial misrepresentation in the Steinhoff International attracted numerous investors who became victims by investing large sums of money to purchase shares within Steinhoff. It is further reported that during the financial years of 2014 until 2016 Steinhoff has been submitting false misleading financial statements. The allegations became known in 2017, and during that period the value of Steinhoff shares dropped significantly, resulting in substantial prejudice to the investors who became victims of this fraudulent activities. It was reported that the financial loss occurred by the investors is estimated at 6.5 billion euros. Further investigation discovered that a small group of Steinhoff Group executives implemented various transactions over a number of years which resulted in inflating the profit and asset value of the Steinhoff Group. The matter was reported to the Hawks’ for further investigation. Ends
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