Yes, let’s see some consequences

The parliamentary hearings into the Steinhoff scandal show little promise

The parliamentary hearings into Steinhoff’s collapse have become depressing. Apart from the occasional “star” witness such as Ben la Grange last week and Markus Jooste’s expected appearance this week, the sessions have come to feel a bit halfhearted. It hasn’t helped that a few of Jacob Zuma’s cronies have joined the ranks of the interrogators.

Nothing undermines the commitment to fighting corruption quite like an individual closely associated with state-capture allegations talking about the need to fight corruption.

La Grange’s appearance caused excitement — not least because of the uncertainty, rather like singer Van Morrison, of whether he would pitch up. And, again like Morrison, if he did pitch, would he bother singing?

Turns out La Grange was prepared to sing. Frustratingly, it was the same old song we’d heard from every other member of the Steinhoff band who has appeared before the parliamentary committee. La Grange, who looked as though he hasn’t slept much since the weekend of December 2 2017, when he says he became aware of problems, seemed to be preparing for his inevitable court appearance.

He told MPS he did nothing deliberately wrong and provided the sort of lame excuses that may shelter him from criminal charges.

It seems that La Grange wasn’t that friendly with his boss Jooste who, amazingly, didn’t share much information with his CFO and also that La Grange trusted almost every bit of info that came across his desk. For someone who was being paid a fortune to sit at the helm of a huge group of companies with multiple layers of reporting and scrutiny, La Grange’s perception of his responsibilities seems remarkably simplistic. And what a strange solution to the auditor conundrum he offered.

A single, and presumably large and powerful, audit firm would be better able to pick up and disclose misstatements; even those created by the same audit firm, reckons La Grange.

Steinhoff chair Heather Sonn and commercial director Louis du Preez may have felt a little irked that MPS were treating them as the primary culprits. Sonn and Du Preez have played a critical role in keeping the Steinhoff ship afloat (and jobs intact) while the salvage work is being done.

Let’s hope some of the regulators who pitched up to be interrogated will discourage the MPS from addressing the problem of corporate corruption by introducing ever more reams of legislation. Such legislation will inevitably slow down law-abiding companies but do nothing to deter those intent on malfeasance.

As Asogaren Chetty from the Companies & Intellectual Property Commission told MPS, what is needed is the proper application of existing legislation rather than more laws.

That said, JSE CEO Nicky Newtonking did allude to one potentially useful new disclosure requirement. Directors who use shares as security must disclose the sums involved. There’s little doubt Christo Wiese’s nonrecourse share-backed loans played a critical role in the steepness of the Steinhoff share price collapse.

A really troubling aspect of these corruption-related hearings is that we risk becoming bored and frustrated by the lack of consequences.