Steinhoff CEO to Update South African Lawmakers on Probe

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV Chief Executive Officer Louis du Preez will give an update to South African lawmakers next week about the ongoing investigation into an accounting scandal that almost destroyed the retailer more than a year ago.

Representatives of regulators and a local anti-graft police unit are also expected to appear at the parliamentary hearing in Cape Town starting March 19, Du Preez told reporters in the city on Monday. The CEO will also meet with South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority this week, he added.

The news comes as Steinhoff prepares to release a summary of a long-awaited forensic report by auditors at PwC into its finances. The owner of chains including Conforama in France and Mattress Firm in the U.S. commissioned PwC to start the investigation in the days after reporting accounting irregularities in December 2017, and the full study runs to 3,000 pages plus 125 appendices, Du Preez said.

Steinhoff shares crashed when the scandal erupted and ex-CEO Markus Jooste quit. The company has been negotiating with lenders ever since, and is the subject of regulatory and legal investigations in several markets. The FSCA is close to concluding Steinhoff probes into insider trading and the publishing of false and misleading financial statements, Johannesburg-based Moneyweb reported last week.

Source: Bloomberg Business News