By Ntombi Nkosi 
23m ago
Johannesburg – The Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London has issued the trial date for the extradition hearing of UK-based Michael Lomas.
Lomas is a former Eskom contractor who has been charged with other ex-Eskom employees in relation to allegations of corruption. The court said the hearing on his case will be on December 20 and 21.
On Thursday, Lomas made a brief second appearance at the London court following his arrest on April 15.
Lomas was granted bail of £100 000 (about R 1.7 million) and surety in the sum of £250 000, among other stringent bail conditions.
“The NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID) brought an extradition application through the UK central authorities to invoke the European Convention on Extradition 1957, the UN Convention against Corruption 2003 to assist in bringing Lomas back to South Africa to account and join the South African accused,” said ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka.
Seboka said the court appearance stemmed from talks with the UK law enforcement authorities in connection with the fraud and corruption case in which Eskom paid R745m to Tubular Construction Projects in which Lomas is implicated.
The contract exposed the state-owned entity to a R1.4 billion loss.
Seboka said Lomas has been indicted along with four other accused in South Africa who were arrested in December 2019.
His co-accused are expected back in court on June 1. The same accused were also served with an R1.4 billion assets restraint order on 04 May after the ID applied to the High Court.
Their assets are now under the supervision of a curator appointed by the court.
[email protected]
Political Bureau