United Kingdom Court grants the NPA’s ID right to extradite fugitive from R745 million Eskom case
16 December 2022
The NPA Investigating Directorate through the aid of the Department of Justice and UK based lawyers successfully argued for the extradition of United Kingdom (UK) fugitive, Michael Lomas.
The Westminster Magistrates Court based in London, UK issued judgment yesterday (15 December 2022), that Lomas' extradition is to be sent to the UK Secretary of State under UN Convention against Corruption 2003, section 87(3).
The trial date was 13 - 14 October 2022. Further, written submissions were received by the court on 28 October and 11 November 2022.
Investigating Director Adv Andrea Johnson hails the two year long fight by the ID to get Lomas to stand trial in South Africa, in connection to the R745 million Eskom Kusile fraud and corruption case.
"The legal process has been lengthy, and we are pleased with the judgment.’’
Lomas was arrested on 15 April 2021 in London and granted hefty bail of £100, 000 (R1.7 million in April 2021) and he further submitted an additional surety of £250,000 (about R4.3 million in April 2021). His arrest at the time emanated from months of talks with the UK authorities about the fraud and corruption case where Eskom paid R745m to Tubular Construction Projects. This exposed the state-owned entity to R1.4 billion costs as per the escalation of the contract.
Lomas has been indicted along with four other accused in South Africa who are expected back in the criminal matter at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 05 April 2023. Lomas was out of the country when his co-accused were arrested and he has never cooperated with law enforcement to stand trial.
The Investigating Directorate (ID) brought an extradition application through the UK central authorities to invoke the European Convention on Extradition of 1957, the UN Convention against Corruption 2003, to assist in bringing Lomas back into South Africa to account.
Lomas has 7 days to apply for an appeal or the extradition stands.
Issued by Sindisiwe Seboka, Investigating Directorate National Spokesperson, 16 December 2022
