Michael Lomas flew from the United Kingdom to South Africa in September 2024, extradited to face charges he had spent years avoiding. Last week, standing before the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, he pleaded guilty.
Lomas, a British businessman, and Hudson Kgomoeswana, a South African businessman, have entered guilty pleas after reaching plea and sentence agreements with the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption. Their convictions mark a turning point in the long-running prosecution tied to corruption at Eskom’s Kusile Power Station project, one of South Africa’s most consequential state capture-era cases.
Both men admitted to roles in a corruption scheme that ran from 2014 to 2017, during the construction and upgrade of the Kusile facility in Mpumalanga. The pleas were entered under Section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act, a mechanism that allows defendants to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for negotiated sentences.
Lomas faced the more extensive charges. He was convicted on 34 counts of corruption after admitting to making payments exceeding R2.6 million from his personal bank account. He also paid more than R396,000 in rent for a Midrand apartment occupied by two former senior Eskom employees. Prosecutors established that these payments were designed to influence Eskom officials to award contracts to Tubular Construction Projects, the company where Lomas worked. The court sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, provided he is not convicted of fraud, theft or corruption during that period. As part of his agreement, he will testify against the remaining accused.
Kgomoeswana’s culpability centered on channeling corrupt payments. He pleaded guilty to one count of corruption, 18 counts of money laundering and 15 tax-related offences. More than R6 million flowed through his company, Babinatlou Business Services, to a former senior Eskom employee as gratification from the Tubular Group of companies. Kgomoeswana retained approximately R757,000 for allowing his company’s accounts to facilitate the transfers. He received 15 years’ imprisonment on the corruption and money laundering charges, with 10 years suspended for five years. An additional five-year sentence on tax offences runs concurrently, producing an effective five-year prison term. He has agreed to forfeit assets worth more than R2.4 million and to provide evidence in the main trial.
The broader Kusile scandal has unfolded over years. In 2019, the NPA announced charges against former Eskom executives Abram Masango and Frans Hlakudi, alleging they received more than R30 million in kickbacks connected to Tubular Construction’s R1.2 billion contract at the power station. Investigators alleged that Tubular executives, including Lomas and former CEO Tony Trindade, routed money through Babinatlou Business Services to benefit senior Eskom officials and secure lucrative contracts.
Negotiations between the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit and Lomas’s legal team remain ongoing regarding asset confiscation. Prosecutors rejected an initial proposal to forfeit R6 million, contending it does not adequately reflect losses suffered by the State.
The Kusile project itself has been marked by corruption allegations, construction delays and substantial cost overruns across the past decade, making it a symbol of the damage state capture inflicted on South Africa’s public infrastructure.
National Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Andy Mothibi welcomed the convictions and highlighted the collaborative effort among IDAC, the Asset Forfeiture Unit, the South African Revenue Service, the Hawks and Eskom. He said the outcome underscores the importance of coordination between law enforcement agencies in addressing complex corruption cases.
The criminal case against Masango and Hlakudi continues in the Gauteng High Court. Proceedings are scheduled to resume on Friday, 7 August, with two cooperating witnesses now committed to taking the stand against them.