Andries Benjamin la Grange, the former chief financial officer of Steinhoff, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Five years are suspended if he avoids fraud convictions and testifies against other Steinhoff officials.
The 50-year-old pleaded guilty to fraud of over R367-million, involving manipulated financial statements and failure to report fraud.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said former CEO Markus Jooste defrauded Steinhoff subsidiaries of R367-million in late 2016.
“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 2016 financial year,” she said.
La Grange was previously fined R2-million by the JSE and banned from public company office for 10 years.
Jooste committed suicide in March before his scheduled arrest. Steinhoff Group, a multinational retail company, was liquidated on 13 October 2023.
“Securing a second conviction and sentence in the matter in just a week is a reflection that even though the wheels of justice turn slowly, impunity no longer prevails,” Mahanjana said.
“Those accused of complex commercial crimes now know that it is a matter of when the dreaded knock on their door comes.”
Pictured above: Former Steinhoff chief financial officer Andries Benjamin la Grange.
