Eskom to study High Court orders on Trillian deals

Power utility Eskom said on Tuesday evening that it would consult with its legal advisors on an earlier court ruling ordering Gupta-linked advisory firm Trillian Capital Partners to pay it back nearly R600m. 

Trillian was ordered by the High Court in Pretoria to pay back R595m in fees after Eskom in March 2018 launched a bid to set aside payments to it and global consultancy McKinsey. 

"Eskom welcomes the judgement. We will be engaging with our legal advisors in the next few days to map the way forward and how to enforce the judgement," said an email from Eskom's media desk.

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The high court ruled that payments from the state-owned power utility to Trillian were "unlawful and invalid". 

Pay back the money 

Tuesday's ruling noted that while McKinsey had realised the payments by Eskom were "unjustifiable", Trillian had "persisted in retaining the payments received".

The court ruled that these payments were "unlawful and invalid" and set them aside. 

McKinsey in July 2018 apologised and paid back R902m to Eskom, and an additional R99.5m in interest in September 2018.