Steinhoff International Holdings said acting CEO Danie van der Merwe repaid a R26.4m loan backed by company shares that he took a week before the retailer’s stock collapsed, says a Moneyweb report. It claims the timing of the loan raises questions about how much he knew about the financial malpractice that has brought the company to the brink of collapse.

Van der Merwe’s personal investment company Ruby Street Investments borrowed the funds from Investec on 29 November, the same day that companies owned by former CEO Markus Jooste and his son-in-law Stefan Potgieter took a R93m loan from the same bank, according to a court filing by Investec in December. Steinhoff reported accounting irregularities on 5 December, causing the shares to crash more than 80% in three days.

Jooste quit immediately, and has since been referred by the company to an anti-corruption police unit. Van der Merwe was sued alongside Jooste and Potgieter by Investec days after the Steinhoff share collapse.

The bank said when the loans were agreed all three must have been aware of accounting concerns that led to the plunge in the share price and didn’t inform the lender, according to the court filing.

Full Moneyweb report