Jooste told the inquiry that he lost 3 billion rand ($193 million) due to the company's stock collapse after the scandal was uncovered.

"I must place on record that when I left Steinhoff on the 4th of December, I was not aware of any accounting irregularities they are referring to," Jooste said.

($1 = 15.5501 rand)

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; writing by James Macharia; editing by Jason Neely)