R745m Kusile graft case delayed



21-07-2021
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The Citizen
Source

The Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court yesterday postponed Eskom’s R745 million Kusile power station corruption case.



The case was postponed to 19 August for former Eskom senior official France Hlakudi to find a new lawyer after a second attorney withdrew for financial reasons, according to the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka.



This is the second time in as many days that Hlakudi’s cases have been deferred after the Pretoria Regional Court last Thursday postponed his fraud and tax evasion case to 10 August for financial instructions.



In the Kusile case, Hlakudi and his co-accused – Eskom’s former group executive for the group capital division Abram Masango, businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana and Tubular Construction chief executive Antonio Trindade – face charges including fraud, corruption and money laundering related to the construction of the multibillion-rand power plant.



The Kusile power station contract was initially valued at R745 million between 2014 to 2017.



Ex-Tubular holdings advisor Michael Lomas is to appear in the London Westminster Magistrate’s Court in December for his extradition trial. This after the Investigating Directorate brought an extradition application through the UK central authorities to bring Lomas to South Africa to join the accused in this case.

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