Ex Steinhoff CFO Ben la Grange handed effective five-year sentence
Former Steinhoff Chief Financial Officer Ben la Grange has been sentenced to an effective five years behind bars for fraud.
The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced La Grange to ten years in prison, five of which are suspended on condition that he is not found guilty of a similar offence.
The court delivered judgment on Thursday.
The 50-year-old entered into a plea and sentence agreement after being convicted of fraud of over R367 million, emanating from the manipulation of financial statements and failure to report fraudulent activities.
Steinhoff was put under investigation in 2017 on suspicion of fraud, with a reported $6.6-billion hole in its accounts.
Steinhoff was a multinational holding company listed in Germany and South Africa that was officially liquidated on 13 October 2023.
"From November to December 2016, then CEO Markus Johannes Jooste, who is now deceased, and La Grange defrauded a Steinhoff of over R367 million," NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.
"On the instruction of Jooste, La Grange created documentation of transactions that supported the fraudulent transactions used to inflate and falsify the annual financial statements of the Steinhoff Group for the financial year 2016.
"After investigations by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, La Grange was fined R2 million for the role he played in the Steinhoff At Work transactions and barred from holding office in a public company for ten years."
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