R30m tax fraud trial against ex-Eskom official postponed

The tax fraud case against former Eskom senior manager France Hlakudi finally got underway at the Pretoria Regional Court for trial on Thursday.

However, the matter was postponed to 21 January 2025 for further trial.

Charges

Hlakudi is facing tax fraud charges amounting to approximately R30 million related to his personal tax affairs and that of his companies, Hlakudi Translation and Interpretation cc, Coxinel Chicken (Pty) Ltd and Bon Services Telcom CC.

Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) Spokesperson Henry Mamothame said this for the funds received by the companies in the period between 2015 and 2018.

“The charges detail how several contractors and/or subcontractors to Eskom paid over money to Hlakudi’s companies. When these transactions were made, he was a senior manager at Capitol Contracts at Eskom until his resignation on 13 November 2017.”

ALSO READ: Ex-Eskom manager France Hlakudi’s trial set for early next year

Michael Lomas

Eskom graft-accused Michael Lomas’ bail bid faced another delay as the corruption case was transferred to the high court.

Lomas was indicted with Masango and Hlakudi, as well as the owner of Tubular Construction Projects, Antonio José Trindade, and the owner of Babinatlou Business Services, Maphoko Hudson Kgomoeswana.

In September, Lomas was extradited to South Africa from the United Kingdom (UK) in connection with the upgrade of Eskom’s Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga between 2014 and 2017.

He was arrested by British police in April 2021, at the request of the South African authorities, and was subsequently granted bail of £100 000 (R1.7 million at the time).

Corruption

Lomas has since been charged with 65 counts of corruption and fraud.

The state alleges that Eskom paid R745 million to Tubular Construction Projects after former Eskom executive Abram Masango and senior manager France Hlakudi fraudulently advocated for the company to receive a contract to build air-cooled condensers at Kusile.

This led to additional costs for Eskom, escalating the contract’s total to R1.4 billion.

Lomas will remain in custody until his next court appearance on 3 December.

ALSO READ: Former Eskom contractor Michael Lomas slips in prison as defence ‘abandons’ bail – for now