Update
GEORGE NEWS - The PWC report revealing years of fraud inside Steinhoff confirms the underlying basis of the legal action by the former Tekkie Town management team to get their business back. So said former Tekkie Town CEO Bernard Mostert in a media statement this week.
"We were defrauded through gross misrepresentation. We have cancelled the transaction and have summonsed Steinhoff in the Western Cape High Court to effect this cancellation."
The PWC report, issued at the weekend, reveals how Steinhoff, over years, overstated profits and assets totalling more than R100-billion. Tekkie Town was one of the very last acquisitions (in October 2016) undertaken by the company before the first allegations of irregularities surfaced in December of 2017. The uncovering of these irregularities decimated the company's share price. Steinhoff then engineered the transfer of Tekkie Town to its South African subsidiary Pepkor. The former Tekkie Town management now contest Pepkor's ownership of the business.
Mostert said when the Steinhoff bomb burst, he and his management team from Tekkie Town were among the first to start corrective action. This led to life being made untenable inside both Steinhoff and Pepkor, and they left, starting over with their new Mr. Tekkie venture.
"When we were pushed out of our business, we experienced actions from within Pepkor and from former colleagues who allegedly elected to negotiate financial rewards for supporting those who pushed us out of our business. In our book these actions are as damaging and bad as the actions revealed in the PWC report detailing the initial fraud in Steinhoff. As we move forward and when we succeed in restoring our ownership in the business, we will be measured in how we rebuild the business. Most of all we will be measured for how we treat and view those who misled us and those who alienated us and those who conspired against us. If we don't do this with a spirit of forgiveness, ultimately the damage will just continue at an unabated pace," he said.
"Nevertheless, forgiveness must not be mistaken for a lack of accountability. The law must run its course and hopefully every person who participated in the defrauding of our business and the damage caused by these actions must be held accountable."
Read previous articles:
- Mr Tekkie launched amid trade restraint threat
- Tekkie Town stabilised and expanding
- Mr Tekkie launches while fights for Tekkie Town wage on
- Former Tekkie Town managers interdicted
- Waarheen volgende vir Tekkie Towners
- Tekkie Town 2 in the wings
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
