It has been a torrid past two weeks for disgraced former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste, who has been banned from holding a directorship of any listed company for 20 years, essentially ending his once promising business career.
The Financial Services Tribunal this week declined to review the 20-year ban handed down to Jooste by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and confirmed the R15-million fine imposed on him for breaching the stock exchange’s listing requirements.
Jooste, 62, has kept a low profile since 2017, after the rot he presided over at Steinhoff became public, costing investors, including the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) billions of rands.
Jooste approached the tribunal for relief over the fine imposed on him by the JSE, but the watchdog said he must be held accountable over the collapse of Steinhoff. “The fact that the applicant [Jooste] lost part of his fortune is an irrelevant consideration in this matter because he was, at least in part, responsible for the demise of Steinhoff. He did not implicate or accuse anyone else for it – and he would know,” the tribunal ruled.
“As to public interest, it is important that a message be sent to the business community that playing around with book entries, creating a false image of the financial health of a company and misrepresenting to the public the true state of affairs, whether intentionally or because of gross negligence, is serious and demands appropriate penalties and not slaps on the wrist.”
Jooste is facing a litany of legal woes, including a warrant of arrest in Germany. The Western Cape High Court a year ago, granted the South African Reserve Bank the right to seize more than R1-billion in assets belonging to him and his associates. The central bank successfully argued that Jooste is suspected of breaching exchange control regulations.
The assets, estimated at R1.2-billion, include his Stellenbosch multi-million-rand Lanzerac wine estate, five luxury vehicles and jewellery.
He is also facing a lawsuit from his mentor-turned nemesis, retail billionaire Christo Wiese, who is suing to get Lanzarec back from him.
Wiese, the country’s richest man before the collapse of Steinhoff, has said in court papers that he did not know in 2011 that he was actually selling his prized possession to Jooste as he pretended to be representing a consortium of investors looking to buy the property. Wiese sold the property to the “consortium” for 10-million Steinhoff International shares, which were worth R220m at the time.
The ruling of the tribunal this week, follows another one a week before, which also cast aspersions on Jooste’s integrity.
In that ruling, which centred on insider trading allegations, the tribunal found Jooste acted unlawfully days before the share collapsed – tipping off his associates to sell their stock before the collapse.
“Mr Jooste was not only the CEO of Steinhoff, a multinational company, but he was also Steinhoff. He knew Steinhoff and the rights and wrongs within the company. If he, uninvited, advises three friends to dispose of their Steinhoff shares and destroy his advice on SMSs, it shows, as Mr Marcus [The Financial Sector Conduct Authority’S attorney] submitted, that his actions were deliberate, premeditated and calculated.”
Steinhoff, once a R200 billion company on the JSE, was delisted this week, valued at a measly R80-million.
Jooste is yet to be charged in South Africa over his alleged role in the collapse of Steinhoff.
