Eskom corruption accused Michael Lomas seeks a retirement home before applying for bail

On Monday, Michael Lomas arrived late at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge because he was receiving treatment from a doctor in prison after a fall. It was his third appearance since he was extradited to South Africa from the UK on 20 September.

The court was scheduled to hear from Lomas’ legal team about whether he intended to abandon his bail application.

His legal representative, advocate Mannie Witz, told Daily Maverick: “We are not abandoning the bail application. We are just trying to find a retirement home or a frail care home. He needs an address and he hasn’t been here since 2017. We are probably going to bring a bail application.

“We’re reserving our rights and if we bring a bail application we will inform the court and the State.”

The State told magistrate Phillip Venter that the Director of Public Prosecutions had approved the transfer of the case to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg, where Lomas and his co-accused will appear on 3 December.

Lomas was extradited from the UK after exhausting his legal options. He fled South Africa while under investigation in 2019 when his co-accused were arrested.

Read more: Extradited and sickly former Eskom contractor Michael Lomas to remain behind bars for now

Accused No 12

On Monday, Henry Mamothame, the spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, said: “An indictment was provided to Lomas’ defence team and they stated on record that they reserve their right to apply for bail. His name will appear in the dock as Accused Number 12.

“Lomas will be joined with 11 others, that include Eskom’s senior executives and Tubular Construction Projects directors, wherein they are facing 65 counts of corruption linked to the R1.4-billion that was meant for the upgrade of Eskom’s Kusile power station in Mpumalanga between 2014 and 2017.”

His co-accused are Abram Masango, a former executive in Eskom’s group capital division; France Hlakudi, a former senior manager in the division; Antonio José Trindade, the owner of Tubular Construction Projects; and Hudson Kgomoeswana, the owner of Babinatlou Business Services.

Seven companies have been charged in the case, which has been postponed multiple times since first coming to court in December 2019.

The initial indictment alleges that Masango and Hlakudi fraudulently pushed for Tubular Construction Projects to be awarded a contract in 2016 to build air-cooled condensers at Kusile. Masango and Hlakudi had oversight of contracts in the Kusile build.

Trindade and Lomas, who was Tubular Construction Projects’ executive adviser and chairperson, are alleged to have paid Masango and Hlakudi through various channels, including Kgomoeswana’s Babinatlou Business Services. According to the indictment, Lomas paid more than R1.9-million into Hlakudi’s businesses’ accounts.

Wheels of justice

Karam Singh, the executive director of Corruption Watch, commenting on the lengthy process that resulted in the matter being referred to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg, said: “The wheels of justice move very slowly.

“While there is a bit of frustration that it has taken this long, we also must be encouraged that these cases are being brought before court and there is potential for some accountability and consequence management for all the high-level corruption we have seen at Eskom that’s been reported on for such a long time.”

Singh said authorities faced a daunting task to prosecute other high-profile corruption suspects.

“We must ensure that the National Prosecuting Authority’s functional independence is fully supported by the fiscus by providing them with adequate budgets and capacity to pursue these cases.

“At one point, we were told about budget cuts. We know the courts are being flooded with more and more cases, but we haven’t seen an increase in budgetary allocations, whether for judicial officers or prosecutors.

“In order to effectively pursue justice in the fight against corruption, it must be appropriately and adequately resourced, and I believe there are still questions about that.” DM