Former Eskom executives back in court for R745m Kusile corruption case

At the last court sitting, Magistrate Philip Venter urged the media to send through their applications to film proceedings of the trial.

Picture File: Lawyers for the former Eskom executives in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court. Picture: NPA

Two former Eskom executives and their three co-accused are expected to appear in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday morning in connection with Eskom’s R745 million Kusile power station corruption case.

The power utility’s former group executive for the group capital division, Abram Masango, former contracts manager, France Hlakudi, businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana, and Tubular Construction CEO Antonio Trindade face various charges including fraud, corruption and money laundering related to the construction of the multibillion-rand power plant.

ALSO READ: Court freezes R1.4bn of former Eskom execs, suppliers’ assets

At the last court sitting, Magistrate Philip Venter urged the media to send through their applications to film proceedings of the trial. The defence had made an indication that they plan to oppose media filming.

Former Tubular holdings advisor, Michael Lomas, will not be in court as he is still in the United Kingdom. He is expected to appear in the London Westminster Magistrates Court from 20 to 21 December 2021 for his extradition trial.

This after the NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID) brought an extradition application through the UK central authorities to invoke the European Convention on Extradition 1957, and the UN Convention against Corruption 2003, to assist in bringing Lomas back to South Africa.

Lomas made a brief second appearance at the London court last week following his arrest in April. He was granted bail of R1.7 million and surety in the sum of about R4.3 million, among other stringent bail conditions.