Pretoria – Former Steinhoff at Work Group Audit Govt, 67-year-old Hein Odendaal, has been sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment or a positive of R2 million after a plea deal.
The Pretoria Specialised Industrial Crimes Court docket sentenced the corruption accused former Steinhoff government on Thursday, 12 March 2026.
Odendaal was additional sentenced to 2 years imprisonment wholly suspended for a interval of 5 years, on situation that he’s not convicted of contravention of part 34 (1) of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Actions Act (PRECCA) dedicated throughout the interval of suspension.
The accused was additionally ordered to topic himself to at least one 12 months of correctional supervision by way of part 276(1) (h) of the Felony Process Act, 51 of 1977.
Odendaal was convicted and sentenced after getting into right into a plea and sentence settlement with the State by way of part 105A of the Felony Process Act.
In his capability because the Group Audit Govt, Odendaal was negligent in that he must have suspected that different workers inside the Steinhoff group dedicated fraud.
Odendaal did not report the suspected fraud to the police.
The courtroom heard proof that mentioned on 21 November 2016, Iwan Peter Schelbert (whereas performing on directions from the then Chief Monetary Officer, Andries Benjamin La Grange), generated a fraudulent bill to TG Sources SARL, an organization primarily based in Martigny, Switzerland.
Following the era of the bill, Stephanus Johannes Grobler and others created supporting documentation and triggered funds to be affected to falsely signify that the bill mirrored a reputable transaction between Steinhoff at Work and TG Sources SARL.
“This fraudulent scheme resulted within the inflation of Steinhoff’s monetary statements by greater than R376 million,” defined Nationwide Prosecution Authority (NPA) Gauteng Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
“The NPA welcomes this conviction and sentence, which marks the fourth conviction secured within the Steinhoff matter.”
Mahanjana mentioned this consequence demonstrates the dedication of the Directorate for Precedence Crimes Investigations and the NPA to holding perpetrators accountable in one of many largest and most advanced company fraud circumstances in South Africa’s historical past.
“The investigation and prosecution of this matter required intensive collaboration and technical experience resulting from its scale and complexity,” Mahanjana mentioned.
“It’s to be famous that the NPA takes this nature of circumstances severely.
“Every case is handled in accordance with its deserves.
“The plea bargains don’t militate in opposition to the seriousness of those offences.”
The Nationwide Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Andy Mothibi, mentioned: “These outcomes ought to exhibit to the general public that NPA will proceed to prosecute all circumstances, whether or not within the public or non-public sector, with out worry, favour or prejudice.”
The case in opposition to the remaining accused, 64-year-old Stephanus Johannes Grobler, has been adjourned to 14 Might 2026 for additional proceedings.
