Corruption-accused Lomas to be monitored via cellphone while out on R2mn bail
The Johannesburg High Court granted the 77-year-old bail on Monday, with stringent restrictions.
Corruption-accused Michael Lomas appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on 17 March 2025. Picture: Kgomotso Modise/EWN
JOHANNESBURG – Corruption-accused Michael Lomas’s whereabouts will be monitored using a cellphone as he is out on R2 million bail.
The Johannesburg High Court granted the 77-year-old bail on Monday, with stringent restrictions.
The United Kingdom (UK)-based businessman was extradited in September 2024, after losing in his bid to fight the process.
Lomas and 11 others are facing 65 counts of corruption related to R1.4 billion for the construction of Eskom’s Kusile power station.
Their trial is only set to begin in July 2026.
Lomas has been released on bail not to his home like his co-accused but to a care facility similar to the one he was kept at in the UK.
He must hand over his UK passport and his South African identity document to the investigating officer.
But the court has also ordered that he buy a cellphone.
“The applicant should within 48 hours of his release on bail, obtain a smart cellular phone with a location monitoring capacity, which should be enabled, and the particulars of which should be provided to the IO [Investigating Officer], for the IO to be able to monitor applicant's location at all times. This phone should always remain charged.”
After the State argued that Lomas was suicidal based on reports by two psychiatrists in the UK, the court ruled that he must continue with his medical treatment and submit reports every three months from his doctors.