Lomas takes the stand next month

Former Eskom contractor Michael Harry Lomas.

2 minutes

The bail outcome for British businessman, Michael Lomas, who is accused of manipulating contracts on power utility Eskom’s Kusile Power Station, to the amount of R1,4 billion, is expected to testify on 17 March.

Lomas appeared in the Johannesburg High Court in Gauteng yesterday where his bail application was postponed.

The former Eskom contractor was extradited from the United Kingdom in September last year and faces 65 counts of corruption.

He was previously arrested, got bail and fled the country to the UK.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) requested Lomas’ extradition in 2022 and was delayed due to several appeals.

Lomas is accused alongside 11 others, including Eskom senior executives and businessmen, for allegedly taking kickbacks and inflating the cost of the work carried out at Kusile Power Station.

They were arrested in 2019 and charged with fraud, money laundering and corruption and their case is expected back next week, 5 March for pre-trial.

“Judgement on Michael Lomas’ bail application is reserved for 17 march 2025. Both the state and his attorney completed their heads of argument and the state argued strongly against the granting of bail. The state based its argument on the basis of two reports, from two psychiatrists which was sourced by him, during his extradition hearing in the United Kingdom, both of them declaring a suicide risk. Furthermore, the state highlighted his departure from South Africa, through Namibia back to the United Kingdom in 2018 when he possibly knew that investigations were conducted on the Kusile matter,” explains the NPA’s Investigating Directorate, Henry Mamothame.