CAPE TOWN – It has been a tough year for the former chairman of Steinhoff, Christo Wiese.
The business titan went from being SA’s 3rd richest man to no longer even featuring on the Forbes' list of dollar billionaires.
On Tuesday Forbes released its annual list of world billionaires where Wiese sadly did not appear.
The 2018 list included South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer, the former Chairman of De Beers, Johann Rupert, the juggernaut behind Richmond and Remgro, Koos Bekker was also included and lastly Patrice Motsepe.
It has been reported that Steinhoff stock has fallen by 25% since it was last evaluated by Forbes.
Wiese's net worth is estimated at R13 billion ($1.1 billion).
In 2017 he was worth R66 billion ($5.6 billion).
Wiese became the biggest shareholder in Stienhoff in 2014, when he exchanged his shares in Pepkor for Steinhoff shares. The exchange was worth R63 billion.
Picture: Cindy Waxa/African News Agency (ANA)
In early February Germany’s Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), a public broadcaster and publisher based, obtained leaked emails and documents that showed that Steinhoff accounts were tampered with. More importantly, the fraudulent activity dates way back to 2014.
According to the report, it revealed that Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste along with current and former colleagues, Dirk Schreiber and Siegmar Schmidt conspired to manipulate the company’s accounts.
It is believed that emails were exchanged among the three in August 2014, shortly before the company’s financial year ending June.
Moneyweb reports that the e-mails began with a note from Schreiber to Jooste with a pro forma balance sheet as well as a profit and loss accounts for the European division for the year ending June.
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PROMINENT SA BILLIONAIRES AND THEIR NET WORTH - FORBES
Nicky Oppenheimer $7.7 billion
Johann Rupert $7 billion
Koos Bekker $2.6 billion
Patrice Motsepe $2.4 billion