Steinhoff exec to be tried for €26m tax evasion

As SA investigators continue to drag their feet in charging anyone connected to Steinhoff, another executive who worked for the retailer is set to go on trial in Germany, this time for tax evasion, reports Fin24. The 64-year-old German executive, who has not yet been named, will go on trial from today for helping Steinhoff's European businesses evade €26m in tax between 2008 and 2012. The Oldenburg Court, where the trial will take place, has not yet shared much information on the charges the accused faces. This week's case will be the third Steinhoff trial in Germany. Courts there have already found two Steinhoff executives guilty of fraud, in a case that proved the disgraced furniture retailer had been cooking its books for years. Dirk Schreiber and Siegmar Schmidt, who worked closely with ex-CEO Markus Jooste, were both convicted last year. Schreiber testified that Jooste had ordered him to falsify the retailer's accounts. He was sentenced to a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence with one year suspended. Schmidt received a wholly suspended sentence of two years. Jooste was supposed to go to trial in the same Oldenburg courtroom where Schreiber and Schmidt appeared, but didn't arrive for the start of his case. The court later issued a warrant for his arrest over his lawyer's objections that Jooste had been blocked from leaving SA. German prosecutors then started working on an extradition request for the former Steinhoff head. No extradition request has yet been filed. Steinhoff entered voluntary liquidation in June last year. Its assets, liabilities and contracts have been transferred to its unlisted successor company, Ibex.

Full Fin24 report