FSB and others fail to respond to finance committee on the scandal surrounding Steinhoff

Note to Editors: A copy of the correspondence between DA Shadow Minister of Finance, David Maynier MP, and the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, is enclosed [here].

To his credit, the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, wrote to a number of institutions on 14 December 2017 requesting them to provide information within seven days, or as soon as possible thereafter, on the scandal surrounding “accounting irregularities” at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.

These institutions included the Financial Services Board, Government Employees Pension Fund, Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, National Treasury, Public Investment Corporation and the South African Reserve Bank.

However, finance committee members have only received three responses, including responses from:

- Bernard Agulhas, the Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors, on 14 December 2017;

- Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, on 18 December 2017; and

- Linda Mateza, Acting Principle Executive Officer, Government Employees Pension Fund, on 19 December 2017.

This despite the fact that the scandal surrounding “accounting irregularities” at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. is a matter of enormous public importance that has wiped out the savings of thousands of ordinary people in South Africa.

It is completely unacceptable for the Financial Services Board, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, National Treasury and Public Investment Corporation to be asleep at the wheel and fail to respond to the Standing Committee on Finance.

That is why I have written to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, requesting him to light a fire under the defaulters and demand that they immediately respond to the request for information on the scandal surrounding “accounting irregularities” at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 19 January 2018