‘Steinhoff cannot cherry pick the PwC report for the public’ - The retail firm has not established why the contents of the 3 000-page report is privileged, counsel argued. And even if it had, the report’s release is ‘in the public’s interest’
Centre for Investigative Journalism in the case — also argued that, even if a judge found that legal privilege was established, the report’s release was in the public’s interest.The case was argued virtually at the Western Cape high court, with Judgepresiding. The matter was heard a week after Steinhoff’s announcement that the same court had approved a proposed settlement with shareholders to the value of over R24.7-billion.
On the same day, Steinhoff told shareholders that its board had approached PwC to perform an independent investigation into the matter. In that announcement the firm said it would “update the market as the aforesaid investigation proceeds”.of the forensic investigation, which revealed that a range of “fictitious and/or irregular” transactions inflated the profits and assets of the group by over €6.5-billion, or over R100-billion, between 2009 and 2017.
“And your lordship, there is an increasing tendency by government agencies and companies that face some scandal [that] they announce, with much fanfare, that there will be an independent investigation … At that point there was no reference to privilege. There is no suggestion that this report is going to be withheld from the public in its entirety.”
The report’s release, Budlender added, is a matter of public interest that outweighs any legal privilege aimed at protecting Steinhoff’s interests. “You have to look at the whole thing together. The one can’t live without the other, because the consequence of the investigation is that there may be potential claims that arise and those claims will then be pursued,” he added.
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