Top of the range cars, art collection and jewellery: Markus Jooste’s R1.2bn attached assets

A silver Mercedes-Benz SL600, a green Land Rover Defender, a white Lexus LX570, jewellery, a mansion in Hermanus and the exclusive Lanzerac Wine Estate outside Stellenbosch are some of the assets linked to former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste which the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has attached.

On Tuesday, the Western Cape High Court granted the bank’s application to attach all assets linked to Jooste, who is accused of breaching exchange control regulations. The assets are estimated to be worth more than R1.2bn.

Under the draft order made public on Tuesday, it attached Jooste’s compound in Hermanus in the Western Cape and five cars registered to his wife Ingrid and an eighth respondent in the case, Petrus Albertus Venter.

The first three cars attached, registered to Venter, are an Isuzu KB 4x4 double cab valued at R81,200, a Mercedes-Benz SL600 (R434,300) and Land Rover Defender 110 (R350,000).

The two vehicles registered under Ingrid’s name are a Lexus LZ570 (R293,600) and Volkswagen Kombi VN 750 (R344,100).

Personal assets declared by Jooste, including jewellery, paintings and firearms with a realisable value of R795,400, were also attached.

According to the draft order, the bank is allowed to attach all movable goods of any nature belonging to Jooste, excluding “clothing of those persons present or resident on the property and any foodstuffs and living essentials”.

The assets will not be moved from the properties and Jooste is allowed to use them pending finalisation of the case.

The order goes beyond to grant the bank access to Lanzerac and Jooste’s digital books and documents to access the finances.

“The forensic expert, in the company of the sheriff and under the supervision of the supervising attorney, shall be authorised and directed to make an electronic mirror image of the data on the Jooste data devices and on the Jooste data storage servers whereas the forensic expert shall copy the said mirror image on an external hard drive,” the order said.

The Reserve Bank was also granted permission to attach assets in Jooste’s Silveroak Trust, including art, worth R99m.

Steinhoff, one of South Africa’s biggest corporate scandals, has been battling to survive for more than four years since auditors refused to sign off on its accounts, leading to a dramatic share price collapse and the start of police and regulatory investigations in Europe and South Africa.

Its investors are said to have lost R200bn since December 2017 with Jooste at the centre of accounting manipulation that brought the company to its knees.

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