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Markus Johannes Jooste (born 22 January 1961) is a South African businessman and the former CEO of Steinhoff International. He is an avid horse breeder, and in 2016 was reported to be one of Africa's richest people, worth $400 million. Joining forces with Christo Wiese in 2014, they embarked on an aggressive international expansion programme. Jooste's sudden resignation from Steinhoff on 5 December 2017 was followed by an involved and protracted controversy concerning Steinhoff's accounting practices in its Central European business dating back to 2016, or even 2014. The resulting uncertainty saw some €10 billion (R160 billion) of Steinhoff's value wiped off the markets in a matter of days, with further losses as the situation unfolded. Aided by the Panama Papers, some journalists contend that insider trading occurred since Steinhoff's listing in 1998, and that the company's top brass acted on both sides of several deals. Leveraged Steinhoff shares served as currency to remunerate third parties, while shareholder value was diluted to acquisitions in which Jooste and a circle of associates had allegedly acquired prior stakes. The ensuing 3,000 page PwC investigation directly links Jooste and his CFO La Grange to the widespread fictitious transactions and accounting irregularities resulting in the Stellenbosch-headquartered company claiming R870 million from Jooste and R272 million from la Grange in a summons lodged at the high court in Cape Town. This would include both salaries and bonuses. Jooste was represented by lawyer Callie Albertyn of DKVG and advocates Jeremy Muller and Matthew Blumberg at his first court trial. A criminal prosecution is not expected soon, as the Hawks investigative unit admitted to making no progress at all, while the NPA lacks the in-house skills to address crimes of this nature. The ruinous impact on pension funds caused some South African lawmakers to express dismay at the lack of prosecution, and some demanded arrests of the culpable parties without delay.
