Berdine Odendaal Biography, Profile
The South African Reserve Bank seized more than R60 million in assets from Berdine Odendaal, the former partner of the late Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste.
According to Fundi Tshazibana, the Deputy Governor of the Prudential Cluster of the SA Reserve Bank, they managed to seize the funds and property that belonged to Odendaal and handed them over to the State. On another note, Jooste sadly passed away by suicide in March, just as law enforcement authorities were getting ready to make an arrest.
What was confiscated
The authorities took away a total of over R42.2 million from different bank accounts. They also seized a fancy property worth R18 million in Val De Vie, Western Cape.
Source of the funds
Jooste, who sadly took his life earlier this year, paid Odendaal a whopping R60.5 million in loans from his horse-racing company, Mayfair Speculators. But then, the Reserve Bank stepped in and put a preservation order on those funds in May 2021. This led to a court battle between Odendaal and the Sarb over who actually owns the money. In February, Odendaal even filed a court application asking for R150,000 a month to cover her expenses. She claimed she needed it for things like stabling her polo ponies, beauty treatments, clothing, and paying her domestic worker. Reports say she’s not exactly struggling though, as she has a house in Pretoria and a spot at Mabalingwe Nature Reserve in Limpopo. The big question now is whether the Reserve Bank will seize those properties.
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