Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. scandal hearings were a predictable shambles in Parliament

31 January 2018

The Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, was warned that there was a significant risk that the hearings into the scandal surrounding “accounting irregularities” at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. would turn into a shambles in Parliament.

The fact that the hearings turned out to be a shambles with members of four committees, including the Standing Committee on Finance, Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Standing Committee on Appropriations and the Portfolio Committee on Public Administration, being prohibited from cross examining witness from Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. , was entirely predictable.

The effect of the shambles was a “powder-puff hearing’, which did not subject Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. to scrutiny, but protected Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. from scrutiny by Parliament.

We will immediately begin work towards scheduling proper hearings, where members can cross examine witnesses from Steinhoff International Holdings N.V., in Parliament.

We have to be tough on crime in the private sector, and tough on crime in the public sector, and will not allow Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. off-the-hook in Parliament.

In the end, the hearings into the scandal surrounding “accounting irregularities” at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. were not just a national, but an international embarrassment, for Parliament.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 31 January 2018