Supplied
Corruption-accused, Michael Lomas, made another appearance in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday.
During his brief appearance before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, Lomas’ lawyers disclosed that he had to be seen by medics after falling in his cell.
He and former senior Eskom executives and directors from Tibular Construction Projects face 65 counts of corruption in the amount of R1.4 billion.
The alleged corrupt activities committed between 2014 and 2017, are related to the upgrade of Eskom's Kusile power station in Mpumalanga.
The 78-year-old Lomas was extradited from the UK to stand trial at home and was remanded in custody as he did not make any formal bail application.
Lomas’ lawyer, Mannie Witz, said the 78-year-old experienced a nosebleed and his hand was “badly cut” as a result of the fall.
“Apparently, the lights had gone off, and he was feeling his way back to his bed, and he slipped and fell and hit his head on the basin. There was nothing from the other prisoners or the authorities. It was an unfortunate and obviously age-related [fall]. He’s not a young man anymore, and he took quite a bad knock.”
Lomas had to be examined by doctors at the facility, which delayed his appearance at the Palm Ridge court.
According to his legal representative, the accused doesn’t travel with other prisoners to court as part of an undertaking made by the South African authorities during the extradition talks.
“He comes with the investigating team. He was extradited from the UK, and he’s a resident of England. There’s a whole lot of conditions that the English government have imposed, the same as Mr Dewani, to make sure that he’s properly treated in the Republic of South Africa,” explained Witz.
He said that the South African government was upholding the agreed conditions so far and that there were no complaints.
On Monday, the state was granted its application to have the multi-million-rand fraud case against Lomas transferred to the High Court, where he would be appearing alongside 11 others.
Lomas’ matter was scheduled to be heard on 3 December 2024 at the high court for case management.
The former Eskom contractor will be back in the High Court again on the third of December where he will join his 11 co-accused in the matter.
