Former Steinhoff chief financial officer (CFO), Andries Benjamin La Grange, 50, has been sentenced to 10 years direct imprisonment by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
This was revealed in a joint media statement released on Thursday by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks.
They said La Grange had entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the state for one count of fraud. The charge involves an amount of over R367-million. This emanates from the manipulation of financial statements and failure to report fraudulent activities.
NPA regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said five years of La Grange’s 10 years direct imprisonment were suspended. This on condition that he is not found guilty of fraud during the period of suspension.
Required to give evidence against those implicated
La Grange is also required to give evidence for the state in any further criminal proceedings. These are against Steinhoff directors, officers and employees.
La Grange was charged with two counts of racketeering in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
He also faced five counts of fraud, one count of corruption and three counts of contravention of the Financial Markets Act. This is in relation to the Steinhoff corruption investigation. The corruption charge is in terms of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act.
Steinhoff was a multinational holding company that was listed in Germany and South Africa. It was officially liquidated on October 13 2023.
Its holdings were in the retail sector, primarily in furniture and household goods. They included a 43,8% stake in the South African Pepkor group.
Fraudulent transactions worth R367-million
Hawks spokesperson Col Katlego Mogale gave further details. She said from November to December 2016, the then Steinhoff CEO, Markus Johannes Jooste and La Grange engaged in fraudulent activities. They defrauded a Steinhoff subsidiary, Steinhoff At Work, the board of directors of Steinhoff Manufacturing and Steinhoff South Africa. The total amount they defrauded was over R367-million.
“…On the instruction of Jooste, La Grange created documentation of transactions. These supported the fraudulent transactions used to inflate and falsify Steinhoff Group’s annual financial statements. And they were for the financial year 2016. After investigations by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), La Grange was fined R2-million. This was for the role he played in the Steinhoff At Work transactions. And he was …barred from holding office in a public company for 10 years,” said Mogale.
Last week, accused in the Steinhoff insider trading Gehardus Burger, 79, pleaded guilty on all three charges. They were charges of the contravention of the Financial Markets Act (insider trading). And he was subsequently sentenced to five years imprisonment. This was suspended for five years, on condition that he does not commit the same crime in that period.
Burger was sentenced during his first appearance in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court last week. The court also ordered that the monies accrued from the sale of the shares be forfeited to the state.
Grobbler out in R150k bail
Another accused in the Steinhoff corruption saga, Stepfanus Johannes Grobler, 64, is currently out on R150, 000 bail.
He is a former head of Treasury and former director of Steinhoff.
Grobler is facing charges of racketeering and three counts of fraud worth R21-billion. He is also charged with manipulation of financial statements and failure to report fraudulent activities. Grobler’s case returns to court on Friday.
