Former Steinhoff legal head Grobler granted R150 000 bail

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Former Steinhoff legal head Stephanus Grobler has been granted R150 000 bail by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

Grobler handed himself over this past Friday where he spent the weekend behind bars at the Pretoria Central Police Station after a warrant of arrest was issued.

This happened a day after the alleged suicide of former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste.

Grobler faces charges of fraud, racketeering and contravening the Financial Markets Act in relation to the Steinhoff saga that took place between 2014 to 2017.

The matter is expected to resume on the 26th of June.

“He has been arrested because there is prima facie proof that he has involved in the fraud that has been involved in fraud that has been committed at Steinhoff and that he played a role in that fraud and accordingly he has now been arrested. Once he has received a copy of the police docket, once the investigation is completed, he will then be able to determine the seriousness of the charges levelled against him and whether he exercises his options of possibly pleading guilty and then take the matter to trial in which he will be able to test the state’s evidence against him. But the state is not at liberty at this stage to disclose exactly what his role in the fraud is or was. They would only have to do so once the investigation is completed,” says attorney Ulrich Louw.

Meanwhile, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has said that Jooste’s death does not have an impact on its investigation into Steinhoff.

It has vowed to continue to assist the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with any probes they may have under way.