Court finds no legal basis for Trillian's R600m payment from Eskom

The judgment has also been scathing towards former Eskom executives Matshela Koko and Anoj Singh, who played a key role in approving payments to Trillian.

JOHANNESBURG - The Pretoria High Court said there was no legal or factual basis for Eskom to pay consultancy firm Trillian Capital R600 million.

On Tuesday, the court ordered the Gupta-linked company to pay back the money, declaring as unlawful and invalid Eskom’s decisions that led to the millions flowing into the company.

Last year, Eskom approached the court, demanding a payment of more than R1.6 billion which the power utility unlawfully paid as a result of a corrupt and invalid deal.

While McKinsey has since paid back R1 billion, Trillian has been refusing to pay back anything.

The court said it was just and equitable that Trillian pays back R600 million to Eskom.

The full bench of judges said that would prove that crime - no matter what euphemism is used to describe it - does not pay.

The judgment has also been scathing towards former Eskom executives Matshela Koko and Anoj Singh, who played a critical role in approving payments to the consultancy firm.

The judges said the former senior officials left no stone unturned to benefit Trillian, describing their actions as amounting to corrupt behavior.

It’s unclear if Trillian would oppose the judgement but the court has ordered that it must pay back the money with interest, calculated from the date of the ruling which was on Tuesday to the date of payment.

The company has also been ordered to pay Eskom’s legal costs.

_

_

[FROM THE ARCHIVES] WATCH: Eskom explains why it paid Trillian millions