Former leading owner Markus Jooste is being sued for nearly £50 million

Former leading racehorse owner Markus Jooste, who had horses trained at Ballydoyle and in Britain as well as in his native South Africa, is being sued for nearly £50 million in the Cape Town High Court by his former employer Steinhoff International.

Legal papers filed with the high court this week show the company is seeking to recover salaries and bonuses paid to its former CEO Jooste from 2009 to the time of his resignation in December 2017 to the extent of R870 million (£48.5 million), plus interest and legal costs.

Ben La Grange, the company’s chief financial officer, has also been named in the action and is being sued for R272 million (£15.17 million) for his part in events that led to the collapse of the company’s share price and the huge losses to state workers' pension funds.

Unusually, Steinhoff is going for the two men's basic salaries in addition to their bonuses linked to profits. The summons runs to 33 pages and, according to the South African businesslive.co.za website, "directly links Jooste and La Grange to the widespread fictitious transactions and accounting irregularities that led to R200 billion (£11.15 billion) being wiped off Steinhoff's share value in December 2017".

In the summons Steinhoff states that, had it been aware of the true facts, no base salaries, bonuses or award shares would have been paid.

The summons read: "The defendants are accordingly required to repay all base salaries paid, all bonuses paid, and the then value of the shares so awarded."

Douglas Macarthur: carried Jooste's silks in the DerbyCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

Jooste spent significantly on racing and had more than 100 horses in training in South Africa where he was the leading owner for ten successive seasons. He also had an increasing number in Europe and those at Ballydoyle included Douglas Macarthur who ran in the 2017 Derby. He now has none at all in South Africa.

Read The Briefing from 8.30am daily on racingpost.com and the Racing Post mobile app with all the day's latest going, weather, market moves and non-runner news