By: Natasha Archary

Author of Steinheist, Rob Rose joins Gugulethu Mfuphi on Kaya Biz to delve into what Markus Jooste’s death means for the charges against him.
The former Steinhoff CEO’s death by an apparent suicide was confirmed by Western Cape police on Thursday, 21 March.
This after Jooste was slapped with a R475 million penalty by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) on Wednesday, 20 March for manipulating the markets.
Rob is of the opinion that with Markus Jooste is no more, no further action will be taken but this depends on how the investigation unfolds.
“I think the net was closing in on him. When I spoke with the regulator this week, I was told that they had met with the Hawks and they were expecting some kind of action to be taken soon against Markus Jooste.
The thing is that he has been able to deflect questions in the past, certainly in Parliament and in the various tribunals about this case saying there were no accounting irregularities as far as he was concerned.
In terms of the Hawks case, the police case, the criminal charges might have changed the game somewhat, and that might have made far more real.
Perhaps he didn’t expect it to get to this stage, but in terms of accountability that’s a good question, where does this leave the case?
Markus Jooste was named by the FSCA as the mastermind who commited this fraud, so in terms of holding other people accountable, we’d have to wait to see what turn the investigation takes.”
The 63-year old allegedly inflated Steinhoff International’s profits by over R100 billion.
Jooste was accused of scamming several investors between 2011 and 2014, causing the multinational holding company, Steinhoff International that is dual listed in Germany and South Africa to collapse.
In 2017, Steinhoff’s share price plunged by more than 95%, wiping out shareholder wealth worth tens of billions of rands.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Biz:
In January 2023, Markus Jooste was fined R15 million by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), with a 20-year ban.
Jooste was slapped with two R7.5 million fines for his “mistakes and transgressions” at Steinhoff.
The JSE statement claims that Jooste contested their findings and disagreed with their judgements.
Markus Jooste was supposed to go on trial in Germany from 18 April to 14 June 2023, 5-years after he resigned as CEO.
The fraud charges against Jooste were brought against him by German authorities.
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