https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Germany charges former Steinhoff managers with balance sheet fraud

5th March 2021

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

German prosecutors have filed charges against three former managers at South African retailer Steinhoff for balance sheet fraud, three years after the company first revealed holes in its accounts.

The Oldenburg prosecutor's office said on Thursday it had filed charges against the trio for allegedly manipulating the balance sheet by including fictitious transactions worth more than 1.5-billion euros ($1.8-billion).

The managers, who were not named, are also accused of over-valuing real estate by 820-million euros, investigators said.

The German regional court must now decide whether to open proceedings against the managers. Balance sheet manipulation is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Steinhoff, which has its operational headquarters in Stellenbosch near Cape Town in South Africa and traces its roots to Westerstede near Bremen in Germany, declined to comment.

Steinhoff first disclosed the hole in its accounts in December 2017, shocking investors who had backed its reinvention from a small South African outfit to a multinational retailer at the vanguard of the European discount furniture retail industry.

In the country's biggest corporate scandal, an investigation carried out by PwC found in 2019 that the firm recorded fictitious or irregular transactions totalling 6.5-billion euros between its 2009 and 2017 financial years.

The PwC investigators found a small group of former Steinhoff executives and individuals from outside the company, implemented the deals, which substantially inflated the group’s profit and asset values.

The retailer, whose budget furniture, clothes and homeware businesses span four continents, is now focused on lowering its nearly 10 billion-euro debt by selling assets and parts of its core businesses, like a potential listing of Pepco Group in Europe.

Edited by Reuters

Article Enquiry

Email Article

Save Article

Feedback

To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Showroom

ALBIS FLANGES (Pty) Ltd
ALBIS FLANGES (Pty) Ltd

ALBIS FLANGES — founded in 1965 — is a petro-chemical approved manufacturer of flanges and fittings in most grades of steel, listed with Sasol,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Sulzer Pumps (SA) (Pty) Ltd
Sulzer Pumps (SA) (Pty) Ltd

Sulzer South Africa, established in 1922, partners with critical industries like power, oil & gas, water, mining, and chemicals to boost...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







301

sq:0.045 0.906s - 122pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now