A suspect in the ongoing Steinhoff investigation pleaded guilty to insider trading in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday, Cape {town} Etc reports.
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The 79-year-old suspect was arrested on 26 September following the arrest of Stephanus Johannes Grobler, the former director of Steinhoff Group, who has since been released on bail and is due back in court on 4 October.
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In November 2017, the then Chief Executive Officer – the late Markus Jooste – reportedly shared information on the selling of Steinhoff shares before they fell.
Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said the suspect allegedly received a tip-off from Jooste so that he could sell his shares before their price dropped after irregularities in the Steinhoff financial statements were revealed.
During the same year, the suspect ordered that more than 39 000 Steinhoff shares be sold while knowing that Jooste was the CEO of Steinhoff.
As a result, he had inside information.
He was charged with three counts of Contravention of the Financial Markets Act (Insider Trading), to which he pleaded guilty.
He was subsequently sentenced to five years imprisonment, suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit the same crime in that period.
In addition, the court ordered that the monies accrued from the sale of the shares be forfeited to the State.
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