Finance minister Malusi Gigaba says regulatory bodies will be investigating various aspects of the Steinhoff accounting scandal, looking at possible fraud, corruption and misconduct.
He says legal or criminal action will be taken against those responsible. Gigaba has met various industry stakeholders regarding the Steinhoff scandal.
A week after the corporate scandal broke, the company admitted to accounting irregularities and suspicions rose about fraud.
It lost more than R210 billion and its share price fell by as much as 80% last week.
The finance minister met industry players on Friday.
Steps are being taken to try and minimise the impact. Shareholders, investors and pension funds have suffered losses. Fears of job losses in subsidiary retail companies have also been raised.
The Steinhoff saga has highlighted issues of corporate governance and accountability. But the big question: Why were these accounting irregularities not picked up sooner.
On Thursday Christo Wiese resigned as Steinhoff chair. The company said this was to avoid conflicts of interest as a probe into the company’s finances was underway in Germany.
