South Africa
UK to extradite Eskom contractor to South Africa─── 13:01 Sat, 17 Dec 2022
The Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London has approved the extradition of former Eskom contractor, Michael Lomas, to South Africa to face charges of fraud and corruption at the power utility.
Lomas, along with four other accused in South Africa, are expected to stand trial in connection to the R745 million fraud and corruption case at the Kusile Power Station.
He was arrested in April 2021 in London and granted bail of £100 000 and he further submitted an additional surety of £250 000.
His arrest at the time emanated from months of talks with UK authorities about the case in which Eskom paid R745 million to Tubular Construction Projects.
This exposed the state-owned entity to R1.4 billion in costs as per the escalation of the contract.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Investigation Directorate’s spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka says Lomas was out of the country when his co-accused were arrested.
She says Lomas has seven days to apply for an appeal or the extradition stands.
