Various organizations have said no to having Markus Jooste passport documents in their possession. The Hawks, the SA Reserve Bank and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) have all denied holding his passport after the humiliated former Steinhoff CEO failed to appear in German court.
On Tuesday morning, Jooste was supposed to attend his criminal trial at Oldenburg in Germany, but his defence team claimed he was unable to travel due to passport problems and he is avoiding risk of being arrested if he tried to leave his current location.
According to reports from the German news outlet, German prosecutors have applied for an arrest warrant against Jooste. A public prosecutor Frank Lohmann said Jooste posed a flight risk and seemingly wanted to avoid the legal process in Germany.
However, the Reserve Bank which obtained a preservation order against Jooste last year, denied that it had Jooste’s passport. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and the Hawks also confirmed that they don’t have his passport either. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Colonel Katlego Mogale, spokesperson for the Hawks, said that law enforcement officers could only take someone’s passport if that person has been charged by the courts and deemed a flight risk by a judge. He further stated that the Hawks are waiting for the case in Germany to be completed before it will take action against Jooste.
On Tuesday morning, German prosecutors hit back at Jooste’s defence team in court, they said that Jooste handed over his passport to his South African lawyers, and that it hadn’t been confiscated by South African authorities. Given Jooste’s absence, his defence team and the German judges will now decide behind closed doors how to proceed on this case.
