Barely 24 hours after being handed a hefty fine for fraudulent practices, a 63-year-old Billionaire had committed died.
Police in South Africa on Thursday said former Steinhoff chief executive Markus Jooste apparently died by suicide.
A renowned horse racer, Jooste entered the horse racing industry in the 1990s with 250 horses, and became the second biggest horse-racing investor in Africa, or perhaps the world.
On 21 March 2024 at his home in Hermanus, Jooste told his wife that he was going for a walk and apparently committed suicide by shooting himself in the head on a beach.
He was 63.
The suicide occured a day before he was to hand himself over to law enforcement.
He was instrumental in transforming Steinhoff from a small Johannesburg furniture outfit into a multinational retailer, had been handed a hefty fine for accounting fraud a day before on Wednesday.
Police said an inquest case docket had been registered following the death of a 63-year-old man.
They did not name the deceased.
“It is alleged that the victim sustained a gunshot wound at around 1520 (local time) at Kwaaiwater and succumbed to death on his way to hospital,” Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said in a statement, referring to a suburb of the coastal town of Hermanus near Cape Town.
Traut said police were investigating the circumstances, adding that no foul play was suspected.
The Financial Times said Jooste had died of a gunshot wound, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority fined Jooste 475 million rand ($25.2 million) on Wednesday for publishing false and misleading Steinhoff annual financial statements and annual reports for the 2014 to 2016 years and the 2017 half-year.
Steinhoff revealed holes in its accounts in December 2017, the first sign of an accounting fraud that led to the near-collapse of the retail group, which is the majority owner of South African and European discount retailers Pepkor (PPHJ.J), opens new tab and Pepco (PCOP.WA), opens new tab.
Steinhoff has suffered hefty losses and a stream of lawsuits since then.
Jooste told a South African parliamentary inquiry in 2018 that he was not aware of any accounting irregularities when he left the retailer in December 2017.
He had also been under fraud investigation by South African police.
