Steinhoff International Holdings NV identified eight people, including former Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste, as those allegedly behind questionable transactions that brought the global retailer to near collapse.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s executives were compelled by a South African parliamentary committee to release the names even as Chairwoman Heather Sonn and Chief Executive Officer Louis du Preez warned it could jeopardise investigations and break European privacy laws.<\/p>\n
Jooste\u2019s mobile phone went straight to voicemail when called for comment and he didn\u2019t immediately respond to a text message.<\/p>\n
The Steinhoff directors were updating South Africa\u2019s parliament after the company Friday released a summary of a long-awaited probe into an accounting scandal that almost destroyed the retailer in late 2017.<\/p>\n
Representatives of regulators and a local anti-graft police unit also appeared. The owner of Conforama in France and Mattress Firm in the US said it remains in a “precarious position”.<\/p>\n
With about 100 auditors at PwC having laboured on the report for well over a year, the company said it plans to dig deeper into the accounting misdeeds as it seeks to get to the bottom of some $7.4 billion in fictitious or improper deals.<\/p>\n
Steinhoff is now proceeding with preparing its 2017 and 2018 audited earnings, due next month.<\/p>\n
Steinhoff\u2019s over-arching objective is to ensure that those responsible are prosecuted, Sonn told lawmakers.<\/p>\n