Johannesburg - State-owned power utility Eskom says it will approach the North Gauteng High Court to institute liquidation proceedings against Gupta-linked Trillian Management and Trillian Capital and Partners for failure to pay back R600 million.
Trillian Capital Partners had, in February, failed to convince the Supreme Court of Appeal that the company was not liable to pay back the R600 million which the North Gauteng High Court had ruled had been irregularly paid to the company by Eskom.
The High Court made the ruling in June last year after Eskom had sought that the payment be set aside and declared null and void. The payment was made in 2016 as part of a R1.6 billion consultancy deal between Eskom, McKinsey & Co and Trillian Capital.
McKinsey & Co and admitted to the irregularity of the payment and paid back the R1 billion plus interest to Eskom. However, Trillian Capital and Partners had insisted that they were not liable to pay back the R600 million it received as part of the deal. The company lost its first appeal bid in June 2019 and soon after a request to appeal the ruling was also dismissed by a full bench of judges at the High Court in October 2019.
The Supreme Court of Appeal was the company's third attempt to escape payment.
Eskom said it would now approach the High Court to liquidate Trillian Capital and Partners to recoup the R600 million.
André de Ruyter, Eskom Group Chief Executive, said: “Eskom has a moral duty and legal obligation to do everything it can to claw back all the monies which were illegally paid out during the height of State Capture. This case is only one of the many in which Eskom’s management will attempt to recoup what is due to the people of South Africa.”
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