Steinhoff scandal: Former director receives five-year prison sentence for R376m fraud

A former Steinhoff director has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after being convicted of fraud involving more than R376 million.

Former director and board member of Steinhoff at Work, Iwan Peter Schelbert, 63, was sentenced by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.

The court imposed a sentence of five years’ direct imprisonment in terms of section 276(1)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Schelbert, who is from Paarl in the Western Cape, was convicted after entering into a plea and sentence agreement with the State in terms of section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Schelbert served as a director and board member of Steinhoff at Work from June 2004 until March 2018.

In November 2016, while acting on instructions from then chief financial officer Andries Benjamin La Grange, he generated a fraudulent invoice to TG Sources SARL, a company based in Switzerland.

The NPA said additional supporting documents were subsequently created by Stephanus Johannes Grobler and others to falsely portray the invoice as reflecting a legitimate transaction between Steinhoff at Work and TG Sources SARL. Payments were then effected based on the fraudulent documentation.

This scheme resulted in the inflation of Steinhoff’s financial statements by more than R376 million.

The NPA and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) welcomed the conviction and sentence, describing it as the third successful conviction in the long-running Steinhoff matter..

They noted that the investigation and prosecution required extensive collaboration and technical expertise due to the scale and complexity of the matter.

The case against the remaining accused, Hein Adendaal, 67, and Stephanus Johannes Grobler, 64, has been postponed to February 6 2026 for further court proceedings.

IOL