A British national wanted in South Africa over allegations of bribes paid in a deal struck with state-owned power utility Eskom has lost a bid to block his extradition.

A London judge dismissed arguments that Michael Lomas, a former Eskom contractor, would be at high risk of suicide should he be sent to South Africa to face the criminal charges in a ruling published Friday.

“It is very hard to see how the appellant, a frail elderly man, would succeed in taking his life after being searched for dangerous objects and when surrounded by the escorting team,” the judge, Charles Bourne, said in the ruling.

He was arrested in 2021 in London over Eskom’s payment of R745-million to Tubular Construction Projects for work on the utility’s Kusile power plant. He faces trial on over 41 charges of corruption for the alleged bribes between 2015 and 2017. The 77-year-old could face as long as 15 years in prison if found guilty.

South African prosecutors first won the right to extradite him in December 2022 after authorities announced a series of arrests and prosecutions in their efforts to turn the page after the scandal-marred rule of former President Jacob Zuma.

Lomas’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Eskom wasn’t immediately able to comment when reached by phone. — Upmanyu Trivedi, with Paul Burkhardt, (c) 2024 Bloomberg LP