By Nicole McCain.
Photo Credit: Fani Mahuntsi.
A London court has given the green light for the extradition of United Kingdom fugitive Michael Lomas to South Africa.
Lomas, a former contractor at power utility Eskom, is wanted in South Africa in connection with the R745 million Kusile fraud and corruption case.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate (ID), with the help of the Department of Justice and UK-based lawyers, successfully argued for his extradition.
The Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London ruled on Thursday that Lomas’ extradition should be sent to the UK Secretary of State, in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption 2003, Section 87(3).
The extradition hearing was held in October while the court received written submissions in October and November.
The judgment comes after a two-year legal battle by the ID to get Lomas to stand trial in South Africa in connection with the Kusile corruption case.
ID head advocate Andrea Johnson said: The legal process has been lengthy, and we are pleased with the judgment.
Lomas was arrested in London on 15 April 2021 and granted bail of £100 000 (R1.7 million at the time). He submitted an additional surety of £250 000 (R4.3 million).
“His arrest at the time emanated from months of talks with the UK authorities about the fraud and corruption case where Eskom paid R745 million to Tubular Construction Projects. This exposed the state-owned entity to R1.4 billion costs as per the escalation of the contract,” said Johnson.
Lomas has been indicted along with four co-accused in South Africa, who are expected back in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Johannesburg in April 2023.
Lomas was out of the country when his co-accused were arrested.
Former senior Eskom manager France Hlakudi; former Eskom group executive for the group capital division, Abram Masango; businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana; and Tubular Construction CEO Antonio Trindade have appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Crimes Court in connection with the case.
They face charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering relating to a R745 million contract at Eskom’s Kusile power station in Mpumalanga between 2014 and 2017.
The ID applied to the UK authorities to invoke the European Convention on Extradition of 1957 and the UN Convention against Corruption 2003 to bring Lomas back to South Africa to stand trial.
Lomas has seven days to apply for an appeal or the extradition will stand.