The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is dusting off its investigative spectacles. After what feels like a decade-long nap, charges have been filed and, importantly, convictions have been secured, in connection with the Steinhoff saga, an epic tale of accounting wizardry gone horribly wrong.
The conviction of Gerhardus Burger, a medical doctor, for insider trading, and former CFO Ben La Grange, who was handed a 10-year jail sentence, half suspended after striking a deal to rat out his accomplices, is a small victory in a long and arduous battle, but a victory nonetheless.
On Friday two more suspects, Hein Odendaal and Iwan Schelbert, handed themselves over to police. They joined co-accused Stehan Grobler — who is named as one of the main players in the €6.4bn (nearly R200bn in today’s money) accounting fraud — in the dock.
One half-expected cobwebs to be clinging to the charge sheet, but credit where it is due — a charge sheet, however, belated, is a charge sheet. It’s a flicker of hope that the wheels of justice are starting to turn. But we’ve seen this movie before: glorious pronouncements followed by a slow, agonising drip of legal proceedings, ultimately ending in a whimper.
The Estina dairy farm case is a striking example. It involves the misuse of R280m intended for a dairy project to benefit black farmers, but instead ended up lining the pockets of the Gupta family. The case has been struck off the roll twice over the past seven or so years. Sure, the NPA has vowed to reinstate it, but it is a bit like watching a tree grow — you hope it will eventually happen, but you’re not holding your breath.
SA’s record on white-collar crime, particularly when it intersects with political power, isn’t exactly a source of national pride. There are legitimate reasons to complain that the rich and powerful in and outside the government escape justice with too much ease. Remember the promises surrounding state capture investigations? At the heart of immense corruption that rolled back a lot of SA’s post-apartheid economic gains, the Gupta family remains untouched by SA justice.
Key figures implicated in the widespread looting frenzy at Eskom and Transnet — monuments to SA’s biggest post-apartheid scandals — have managed to evade prosecution for years, often through legal manoeuvring and delays. Instead, some of them are in parliament, ironically occupying positions in an institution that is supposed to uphold integrity and accountability.
Granted, Shamila Batohi, who took the reins of the NPA in the glow of national goodwill in 2019, faced a Herculean task. Untangling a web of corruption and state capture, as revealed by the raw data provided by leaked emails and documents, needed to be analysed, verified and connected to form a coherent narrative of wrongdoing.
The sheer volume of emails and documents, the intricate network of shell companies and the scope of Gupta operations present formidable challenges. These are compounded by limited resources and capacity, which often hamper our law enforcement agencies.
Things should be different now in the Steinhoff case. The NPA has a veritable mountain of evidence courtesy of PwC’s 7,000-page tome. Seven. Thousand. Pages. That’s not a report. It is a legal weapon of mass destruction set up by a team of more than 100 professionals, including forensic accountants, auditors and legal experts. It’s practically a hip-hop mixtape full of self-snitching verses, a financial thriller where the real suspense lies not in whodunnit, but in whether anyone will pay the price for their (c)rhymes.
To add to this repository of evidence La Grange’s co-operation with the NPA could be a crucial turning point, potentially unlocking further avenues of investigations and leading to more high-profile prosecutions. This newspaper’s reporting on the PwC investigation report paints a distributing picture of the board. Their collective blind eye on Steinhoff’s dark arts of magical profits was less a case of oversight than a glaring act of complicity.
The evidence is begging to be used. It would be an epic scandal, a case study of ineptitude, if the NAP fails to secure convictions. We’re talking about billions of rand, shattered lives and the wholesale destruction of trust in SA capitalisation. If the NPA is to challenge the perception here and abroad that SA has an inappropriate tolerance for private sector corruption, and meekly watches on as financial crimes run rampant, it needs to secure meaningful convictions of Grobler, Odendaal and Schelbert.
And then there’s the inevitable siren song of a settlement. It will save money and resources, the pragmatists will argue. And, to be sure, they have a point. Legal battles are messy, expensive and time-consuming. Yet justice for a financial crime of this scale must be seen to be done. A slap on the wrist and a confidential penalty payout won’t cut it.
Accountability is paramount. Consequences are essential. The message needs to be crystal clear: white-collar crime, the kind that steals pensions and futures, will not be tolerated. The integrity of the market demands nothing less.
So, Batohi, the clock is ticking. You have the evidence. You have the opportunity. Don’t squander it. The world is watching. And frankly, we’re a bit cynical. Prove us wrong. Show us that justice isn’t just a concept but a reality, even for those who can afford the best lawyers. Show us that the Steinhoff saga won’t just be another chapter in the long, sad history of impunity for the powerful.
• Motsoeneng is Business Day's acting editor.
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