By BAKANG MOKOTO
13 March 2026- The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has sentenced the former Steinhoff at Work, Group Audit Executive Hein Odendaal (67 ) to four years direct imprisonment or a fine of R2 million. Odendaal was further sentenced to two years imprisonment wholly suspended for a period of five years, on condition that he is not convicted of contravention of Section 34 (1) of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA) committed during the period of suspension and that he subject himself to one year correctional supervision in terms of section 276(1) (h) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 51 of 1977.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana said Odendaal was convicted and sentenced after entering into a plea and sentence agreement with the state in terms of Section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act. Mahanjana said in his capacity as the Group Audit Executive, Odendaal was negligent in that he ought to have suspected that other employees within Steinhoff group committed fraud therefore did not report to the police.
“Where on 21 November 2016, Iwan Peter Schelbert, while acting on instructions from the then Chief Financial Officer, Andries Benjamin La Grange, generated a fraudulent invoice to TG Sources SARL, a company based in Martigny, Switzerland.
“Following the generation of the invoice, Stephanus Johannes Grobler and others created supporting documentation and caused payments to be affected to falsely represent that the invoice reflected a legitimate transaction between Steinhoff at Work and TG Sources SARL,” she said.
Mahanjana further said this fraudulent scheme resulted in the inflation of Steinhoff’s financial statements by more than R376 million. She added that, the NPA welcomes this conviction and sentence, which marks the fourth conviction secured in the Steinhoff matter.
“This outcome demonstrates the commitment of the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations (DPCI)and the NPA to holding perpetrators accountable in one of the largest and most complex corporate fraud cases in South Africa’s history.
“The investigation and prosecution of this matter required extensive collaboration and technical expertise due to its scale and complexity,” said Mahanjana.
She said it is to be noted that the NPA takes these nature of cases serious. Mahanjana said this case is treated according to its merits.
“The plea bargains do not militate against the seriousness of these offences,” she said.
Meanwhile, the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Advocate Andy Mothibi said: “These outcomes should demonstrate to the public that NPA will continue to prosecute all cases whether in public or private sector without fear , favour or prejudice.
“The case against the remaining accused, Stephanus Johannes Grobler (64), has been postponed to 14 May 2026 for further proceedings.”
The Guardian 