Former Steinhoff CEO and leading SA owner and breeder Markus Jooste is taking no chances and has negotiated with the Parliament of South Africa after being summonsed to appear on Wednesday 29 August.

In the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, an agreement was reached between Jooste, acting secretary to parliament Penelope Tyawa and finance committee chairman Yunus Carrim before acting justice Deidre Kusevitsky that questions by MPs will be strictly circumscribed,

Business Day reports that in terms of the agreement of court, Tyawa agreed to withdraw the summons issued on Jooste to appear at the meeting on Wednesday.

In terms of the agreement Jooste agreed to appear before the committees on September 5 and not Wednesday this week.

The four committees will continue with their meeting on Wednesday, at which former CFO Ben la Grange has agreed to appear.

Regulators will also give an update on their investigations into Steinhoff.

Jooste agreed to give evidence under oath and to be questioned “to identify any institutional flaws and challenges existing in the relevant financial regulatory framework or any implementation challenges in the financial regulatory framework which might have caused or given rise to the collapse of the value of Steinhoff shares”.

Jooste had previously refused to appear voluntarily before parliament on the grounds that he was no longer CEO and could not answer questions on behalf of the group; and also because there was the possibility that he could prejudice himself in relation to any future criminal or civil cases.

Mayfair Speculators’ Markus Jooste

Democratic Alliance finance spokesman David Maynier said the terms of Jooste’s participation in the committee hearing was strange.

“It is bizarre that Markus Jooste will be now be summoned to assist in identifying flaws and challenges in the regulation of the financial system,” Maynier said.

“It’s rather like asking King Herod to assist in identifying flaws and challenges in the regulation of childcare facilities.

“It’s a deviation from the original summons, which would have required Markus Jooste to ‘give an overview of the circumstances that led to the collapse in the value of the share price and answer related questions.’ We are going to have to get to the bottom of how this happened.”

Where?

The joint meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance; Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry; Standing Committee on Public Accounts and; Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, to follow up on Steinhoff issues will meet 29 August 2018

The representatives of Steinhoff, including Mr Ben le Grange, will attend the meeting together with the regulators.

Details of the meeting are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Venue: Committee Room E249, Second Floor, National Assembly Building

Time: 10:00