Businessman extradited from UK to South Africa on corruption charges

A British businessman, who was a former contractor for South Africa’s ailing power utility Eskom, has been extradited from the UK to face 65 counts of corruption.

Michael Lomas is accused of taking kickbacks on contracts between his firm, Tubular Construction, and Eskom for work at the Kusile power station, which were worth in excess of 1.4bn rand ($80m; £60m).

“He allegedly manipulated contracts. He was previously arrested, got bail and fled the country to the UK,” national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told AFP.

He has not yet commented on the allegations against him.

Eskom has been beset with corruption allegations and is struggling to recover from years of mismanagement that has led to prolonged blackouts in the country.

Mr Lomas landed at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg early on Friday morning. He was in a wheelchair and under heavy police escort.

Ms Mathe told local news website News24 that one of the conditions of the extradition was to have a medical doctor on the plane because of Mr Lomas’s poor health.

He made a brief appearance at Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court before the case was adjourned.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) requested Mr Lomas’s extradition in 2022, but it was delayed while he lodged several appeals, which were ultimately rejected.

He was accused alongside 11 other alleged co-conspirators – including two senior executives at Eskom and two other businessmen. They were arrested in 2019 and their case is ongoing at the Johannesburg High Court.

Mr Lamos will be charged and processed and then his case will be combined with the other suspects, according to an NPA statement.

The other men have been charged with fraud, money laundering and corruption for allegedly taking kickbacks and inflating the cost of the work carried out at Kusile power station.

This was meant to help alleviate South Africa’s crippling electricity shortages but the project has been beset by delays and faults, according to AFP.

Mr Mathe said Mr Lomas was a “wanted fugitive” who would be handed over to the Hawks, the police unit that investigates economic crime, corruption and organised crime.

Hawks has been working on this case since 2017, when an employee placed a complaint about one of the tenders.