ANN CROTTY: Picking at Steinhoff’s carcass
Justice would be served if some of its executives suffered consequences
So, another team of lawyers is creeping onto the Steinhoff carcass. What should we make of that, apart from the stereotypically obvious — the only people who are going to emerge richer from the Steinhoff meltdown are the lawyers and auditors who manage to secure work interrogating the meltdown? The proposed class action by Dutch law firm BarentsKrans appears to have got the backing of most of the local institutional fund managers that persuaded tens of thousands of their clients to pour their hard-earned funds into the global retailer. While it’s sad to think that whatever pickings there are on this carcass are likely to be diminished by huge legal fees, the hope is that the involvement of entities like BarentsKrans and Dutch shareholder association VEB will help to ensure that shareholders get some sort of justice. Justice in this particular corporate context means that some of the executives involved in destroying the hopes for a halfway decent retirement for thousands of people w...
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