How secrecy backfired at Steinhoff
The court ruling that the scandal-ridden retailer must give its forensic report to the FM and amaBhungane should scare other firms and even the government
12 December 2024 - 05:00
Markus Jooste, the burly accountant whose career began at the small Gommagomma lounge suite factory in Ga-Rankuwa and took him all the way to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, had an instinct for secrecy.
“Nothing is written,” he boasted to people hired to interview him for an internal promotional video years before the retail company he headed, Steinhoff, imploded spectacularly in 2017, wiping R230bn off its market value. “All is done on a handshake and on trust, and on common understanding.”..
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