Lamola vows cooperation with Germany on Markus Jooste

The German prosecutors have applied for a warrant of arrest after the 62-year-old former CEO of the scandal-ridden firm failed to show up for his first appearance before the Oldenburg district court on Tuesday.

Jooste stands accused of inciting to manipulate balance sheets of the multinational firm to the tune of 1.15 billion euros.

The retailer was plunged into crisis in 2017 amid allegations of fraud and corruption by senior executives.

The company’s stock dropped by more than 61% amid allegations of fraud against Jooste.

Jooste resigned after the scandal broke but denied all knowledge of accounting fraud.

Jooste's lawyer, Bernd Gross, told the court that his client was unable to travel from South Africa, citing that his travel documents were with the South African authorities.

The Hawks and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) have denied that officers confiscated Jooste's passport.

Lamola says South Africa will assist German authorities.

"We always cooperate with other foreign jurisdictions requesting either our nationals or anyone in South Africa on a day-to-day basis to help them to attend to the issues of justice in their own countries and this matter of Mr Jooste is not different, we will definitely cooperate with German.

"But we will also have to look at what will become the issue of sentencing, the imposition of fines and what our laws are saying because I have already seen some of the people convicted there and looking at the issues they have alleged to have committed, it's a very serious matter that may warrant a minimum sentencing regime in our country.

"So all those things will come into play and then we will be able to cooperate and respond to the German authorities.

And from our side, there is nothing that has stopped him from travelling to Germany, he could've appeared."

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