Hawks head Gen Godfrey Lebeya has told parliament that investigations into the Steinhoff scandal are progressing well and draft forensic reports are being studied to get to the bottom of the country’s biggest corporate fraud.
Lebeya told the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday that on April 1 last year, PwC forensic accountants were appointed by the Hawks to investigate and prepare a report that would focus on criminality and criminal court process.
“On April 30 2021, the investigation team received a draft forensic report from PwC containing 31 arch lever files. Now, the investigation team and prosecutors are studying the report, identifying potential witnesses to be interviewed and mutual legal assistance requests to other countries for evidence that should form part of the final forensic report,” Lebeya said.
Steinhoff, a JSE-listed company, went for years submitting false and misleading financial statements to attract investors, in contravention of the Financial Markets Act. When these allegations surfaced in December 2017, the value of the shares plummeted, resulting in huge losses for investors.
Lebeya told parliament that several cases have been opened in Sandton and Stellenbosch after the scandal that cost many investors billions of rand. Among the cases being investigated are fraud and contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, the Companies Act and the Financial Markets Act.
A total of 288 statements have been obtained and the money involved amounts to R109.7bn, Lebeya said. He said affidavits from witnesses have been obtained, subpoenas were served to banks and statements were obtained from bank officials.
But there are still outstanding investigations that still need to be done.
“The forensic report that we are dealing with is still interim. We are still waiting for the final report that will include all the evidence that shall have been collected both in the country as well as elsewhere. Some of these need to be acquired through legal assistance.
“We have 23 witness statements that were identified through the audit process. Nine of these are within SA and 14 in other countries such as Germany, France, Australia and the UK,” Lebeya said.
He added that 33 foreign bank account statements have been identified through the audit process, including from Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, France, Australia and the UK.
There are, however, statements that are still outstanding and meetings with other partners involved in the Asset Forfeiture Unit that still have to take place.
Lebeya also told the committee about staffing struggles at the Hawks. He said the unit is operating at about 47% capacity and needs to make more than 2,800 appointments to reach its full capacity. There are 270 posts that are now being filled.
As at March 31, the Hawks were investigating 20,000 cases that included charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and the breach of the Public Finance Management Act and Municipal Finance Management Act.
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