Johannesburg – The former head of a construction company contracted by South Africa’s embattled power utility Eskom is being extradited from Britain to face graft allegations, police said on Thursday.
Michael Lomas – a British citizen and ex-board chairman of Tubular Construction – was arrested on April 15, 2021 in London.
He is set to land early Friday in Johannesburg, said Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, spokeswoman for the South African Police Services.
“Lomas was an Eskom contractor and is wanted for fraud and corruption in excess of 1.5 billion rand (85.8 million dollars) that happened between 2008 and 2018 at Kusile Power station,” she told AFP in a text message.
“He allegedly manipulated contracts. He was previously arrested, got bail and fled the country to the UK,” she said.
Fugitive fraud-accused Michael Lomas is being extradited back into the country. Lomas is wanted for fraud and corruption while employed by Eskom at Kusile Power Station between 2008 and 2018. Watch the full conversation with SAPS spokesperson Athlenda Mathe here:… pic.twitter.com/2rcJnqD4xm
— eNCA (@eNCA) September 20, 2024
He will be handed over to South Africa’s elite police unit known as the Hawks, which investigates major crimes.
Lomas is charged over kickbacks in the construction of a new power plant known as Kusile.
Lomas was indicted along with four other suspects – two ex-Eskom executives and two businessmen – who were arrested in South Africa in December 2019.
They have been charged with fraud, money laundering and corruption for allegedly taking kickbacks and inflating the cost of work carried out at Eskom’s Kusile power plant.
Wanted fugitive Michael Lomas will appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court today on charges of fraud and corruption. That’s been confirmed by police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe. https://t.co/T8pyUNJaD8 pic.twitter.com/ZbWvuIj8Lo
— eNCA (@eNCA) September 20, 2024
Eskom is one of South Africa’s ailing state-owned companies, struggling to recover from years of alleged mismanagement.
The utility generates most of the country’s power from mainly coal-fired plants that regularly break down, causing blackouts since 2008. The blackouts have only eased since May.
The construction of Kusile and another new power plant was meant to help alleviate power cuts in Africa’s most industrialised economy.
Their construction has been beset by faults and delays, mired in a raft of corruption allegations.
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Source: AFP
Picture: X/@SAPoliceService
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