Johnathan Paoli
Police have confirmed that former Steinhoff Chief Executive Markus Jooste has died, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound a day before he was expected to hand himself over to the Hawks.
The former CEO as well as former Steinhoff International company secretary and head of legal Stéhan Grobler, were told on Wednesday that they had to hand themselves over to the Hawks on Friday.
Western Cape SAPS said on Thursday that an inquest docket into the death of the 63-year-old businessman has been opened, following reports that he shot himself during an attempted arrest.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Potje said that SAPS was notified of a shooting incident on Thursday afternoon at Kwaaiwater Beach, Hermanus and they found that the deceased had succumbed to a fatal gunshot wound to the head shortly after arriving at a private hospital.
This comes on the heels of intense litigation surrounding Jooste over the collapse of the Steinhoff International Holdings company, with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) imposing an administrative penalty of R475 million on the former CEO.
The R475 million penalty against Jooste, which included a R10 million reimbursement to the FSCA for costs incurred in its investigations, had to be paid by April 19 and will attract an 11.75% interest until it is paid in full, with criminal proceedings subsequently being opened.
“The investigation found that Jooste and Dirk Schreiber made or published false, misleading, or deceptive statements about Steinhoff International Holdings Limited and Steinhoff International Holdings NV, which they knew or ought reasonably to have known were false, misleading, or deceptive. Such publication included the omission of material facts,” the FSCA said on Wednesday.
This caused investors to base their decisions on false information, which resulted in hundreds of billions of rand in losses, some from pension funds.
In addition, Jooste resigned from Steinhoff in December 2017 amid allegations of fraud and corruption, triggering a near-collapse that wiped out R200 billion in pension fund money and other investments as investors realised its financial statements were manipulated.
Following his death, it has been speculated that it will be extremely difficult to recover the investments and money lost by the victims of Jooste’s crimes.
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