Standing Committee on Finance must get stuck into the ‘accounting irregularities’ scandal at Steinhoff

11 January 2018

On 11 December 2017, I wrote to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, requesting him to consider scheduling public hearings on the scandal surrounding “accounting irregularities” at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.

Since my request, the scandal at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. has snowballed with:

- the resignation of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr Christo Wiese, on 15 December 2017;

- the resignation of the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Ben la Grange, on 04 January 2018; and

- the news that the 2015 financial statements could no longer be relied upon and would have to be restated.

However, I have not received a formal reply to my request, although a public statement was issued following my request for public hearings, on 12 December 2017, stating that:

“Working with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, the Committee will play a full oversight role and will call the regulatory bodies, the National Treasury, the PIC, GEPF, Steinhoff representatives and any other stakeholders to account to Parliament as soon as it reconvenes in late January 2018.”

I have, therefore, written to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, requesting him:

- to confirm that the public hearings will go ahead; and

- to provide further particulars on the public hearings, including the names of witnesses that will be invited to appear at the public hearings and the dates on which the public hearings will take place in Parliament.

We need to ensure that members, and former members, of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board of Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. appear before the finance committee in Parliament.

We need to know what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did about it when it came to “accounting irregularities” at Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.

We need to be tough on crime in the public sector, and tough on crime in the private sector, and that is why we need to get stuck into what may be one of the biggest corporate scandals in the history of South Africa.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 11 January 2018