BBC NEWS | Business | Mark Thatcher and the Dogs of War Printable version Mark Thatcher and the Dogs of War On 25 November, Sir Mark Thatcher faces a daunting appearance in a South African court on charges that he helped fund a military coup in the West African state of Equatorial Guinea. If found guilty he could face 15 years in a South African prison. Sir Mark denies having knowingly helped finance the coup The Money Programme has travelled to Africa to investigate the full story of the attempted coup and the men who led it. What was Sir Mark's role, and how much did he really know? Sir Mark's business career has long attracted controversy, and rumours have persisted about the true source of his money. After a series of controversial business deals in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and the USA, in 1995 he settled in Cape Town. It was here that he met another British expat, former SAS officer Simon Mann, and this was the friendship which would lead to his current predicament. Mr Mann had extensive military experience, and drew on it to set up a private security company called Executive Outcomes. Last year he was presented with a potentially lucrative business opportunity.

Vulnerable The small west African country of Equatorial Guinea was previously best known as the model for Frederick Forsyth's thriller, The Dogs of War. Since the mid-1990s, however, large oil reserves have been discovered there. In less than a decade, the country has become one of the richest per head of population on the African continent. The dictatorial President, Teodore Obiang, came increasingly under the spotlight of human rights groups. With only a small army, President Obiang's regime began to look vulnerable. Payment According to an account given by Mr Mann, in early 2003 he agreed a plan to provide military support to escort the opposition leader in exile, Mr Severo Moto, back to Equatorial Guinea and take over as President - in effect a coup. Sir Mark could face a jail sentence of 15 years A contract between the two men indicates large fees would be paid to Mr Mann if the operation was successful. The coup plot was put into action, and Mr Mann contacted a number of former mercenaries to assist him in securing soldiers and arms.

As Johann Smith, a former South African special forces soldier with good contacts amongst the mercenaries, told the Money Programme: "The initial payment was $3,000 per man, and after the successful overthrow of President Obiang, each one would have received $30,000 and obviously employ afterwards because they would have then served as the presidential guard of the new president of Equatorial Guinea, Severo Moto." Business partner By the beginning of this year, the operation was taking shape. It was then that Sir Mark's name first appears in connection to those implicated in the plot. In January 2004, Sir Mark, acting on the advice of Mr Mann, invested $274,000 in a new company running an air ambulance business in West Africa. The company was called Air Africa Ambulance, and one of the countries in which it would operate was Equatorial Guinea. Mr Mann assured Sir Mark that the boss of this new company, one Crause Steyl, would be a good business partner. Mr Steyl already had a successful air ambulance business in South Africa, and investors in his new scheme could expect a good financial return.

What is unclear is whether Mr Mann also told Sir Mark that Mr Steyl had been his pilot on some of his mercenary operations in the 1990s. Sir Mark's lawyers state that their client had no knowledge of any coup plot. Trouble By the beginning of March, hundreds of thousands of dollars had been paid into Mr Mann's offshore bank account, and he and the plotters were ready to go. One of the payments from a certain JH Archer was for $134,000. Lord Archer's lawyers have said that he had no prior knowledge of any coup, and never met or communicated with Mr Mann. Another payment for $100,000 was received from Air Africa Ambulance - Mr Steyl's company, in which Sir Mark had invested. Whether or not Sir Mark knew anything about the payment, it was this transaction that would land him in trouble. Everybody knew While the plot was about to go into action, rumours about a coup were circulating. Lafras Luitinth, a former colleague of Simon Mann, was surprised that those behind the operation were still planning a coup at all. "The biggest mistake was to do it.

The second biggest mistake was while trying to do it that there was no security - that everybody knew about it.' D-day was 6 March 2004. Mr Mann and two colleagues waited at Harare airport in Zimbabwe to rendezvous with a plane carrying 64 mercenaries. Before they could load the aircraft with weapons, they were arrested in a sting operation carried out by the intelligence agencies of Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Equatorial Guinea. Although Mr Mann claimed there was no coup plot, and that he was trying to buy the arms for a security operation in Congo, he was given a seven year sentence for illegally obtaining arms. The other mercenaries are each serving a year in jail. Scratcher In a letter leaked from his Zimbabwean prison cell, a desperate Mr Mann begged his friends to help him. "It may be that getting us out comes down to a large splodge of wonga," the letter said. It also referred to "Scratcher" - thought to be an unkind nickname for Sir Mark from his schooldays, when he suffered from acne. Shortly after Mr Mann's arrest, Sir Mark's business associate, Mr Steyl, turned himself in to the South African authorities. The authorities wanted to ask Sir Mark about his involvement.

In August he was arrested at his Cape Town home and charged with assisting in an attempt to stage a foreign coup. His bail of ï¿½165,000 was paid by his ever-loyal mother, and he faces a court hearing next week. If found guilty of being involved in the attempted coup, he could face a jail sentence of 15 years. On 17 November 2004, mercenary pilot Mr Steyl pleaded guilty to involvement in the coup plot, and will be a witness against his former business partner Sir Mark. The story of the coup that never was could yet prove to be the biggest scandal in Sir Mark's controversial business career. The Money Programme: Mark Thatcher and the Dogs of War was broadcast on Wednesday 17 November at 1930 on BBC Two. BBC NEWS | Africa | Mark Thatcher under house arrest Mark Thatcher under house arrest Sir Mark returned to his home after his Cape Town court appearance Mark Thatcher remains under house arrest in South Africa after being accused of involvement in an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

Appearing in court on Wednesday, the 51-year-old was bailed to reappear on 25 November and ordered to pay a two million Rand (ï¿½165,000) bail bond. Police say there is "credible evidence" he helped finance the alleged plot. Sir Mark, son of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, says he is innocent of all charges. He is accused of violating laws banning South African residents from taking part in foreign military action. Sir Mark was arrested on Wednesday morning at his home in the Cape Town suburb of Constantia. Credible evidence Investigators were said to be examining his records and computers for information about the alleged plot. Sipho Ngwema, spokesman for the South African police anti-fraud unit known as the Scorpions, told BBC's Newsnight police had "credible evidence" of Sir Mark's involvement. I have no involvement in an alleged coup in Equatorial Guinea and I reject all suggestions to the contrary Sir Mark Thatcher He said Sir Mark had been arrested because of indications "he has contravened the Foreign Military Assistance Act of South Africa which prohibits South African residents from assisting in a coup or military activities outside South Africa without authorisation of the South African government".

"We allege he is one of the financiers of the coup to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea and we have received credible evidence that he has assisted financially in that regard," he added. He said South Africa encouraged its residents to "export peace to neighbouring states and the rest of the continent". "Anyone who is using this country as a springboard for violence and disorder, we are going to deal with those persons quite strongly," he added. 'Cooperating fully' The act specified a fine or imprisonment for conviction, but not the severity, which is left up to the presiding officer, Mr Ngwema said. He also said Sir Mark had been "planning to leave the country for good". The investigator confirmed a report in Johannesburg newspaper This Day that Sir Mark had put his house on the market for 22 million rand (ï¿½1.8 million), sold four luxury vehicles and reserved flights for his wife and two children to the United States on Monday. Mr Ngwema also confirmed that Sir Mark's children had been enrolled in American schools for the start of the new academic year in September.

Mark Thatcher arrested over alleged African coup plot - World Socialist Web Site World Socialist Web Site Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) Mark Thatcher arrested over alleged African coup plot By Chris Marsden 27 August 2004 The name of Thatcher has assumed political prominence once again, carrying with it a familiar bad smell. This time the Thatcher in question is Margaret Thatcher’s son, Mark, who has been arrested in South Africa after being accused of involvement in an alleged coup. Sir Mark, who inherited a baronetcy after the death of his father Dennis one year ago, was taken into custody after a dawn raid on his home in Cape Town, South Africa, by the police anti-fraud unit known as the Scorpions. He faces a possible 15 years in prison for allegedly helping bankroll a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest oil producer with proven oil reserves of 12 million barrels.

Thatcher, 51, was later freed on two million rands (£167,000) bail, but could face extradition to Equatorial Guinea, or prosecution under South Africa’s Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act that prohibits South African residents from assisting in a coup or military activities outside South Africa. He must return to court in mid-November. The coup plot also allegedly involves another corrupt Tory bigwig, Lord Jeffrey Archer, who was only recently released from prison after serving a sentence for perjury. Thatcher’s alleged involvement in the plot to overthrow Equatorial Guinea’s tyrannical President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo—who has declared himself “god” and has ruled the country since 1979—came to light as a result of the arrest in Zimbabwe on March 6 of his neighbour Simon Mann. Mann is an Old Etonian family member of the Watney brewing empire and a former soldier in the elite Special Air Service. He was one of 64 suspected mercenaries imprisoned after their jet landed in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, apparently to pick up a cache of arms. A total of 89 foreigners, most of them South Africans, are currently imprisoned in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea.

Mann and Thatcher were close friends who regularly dined together. Greg Wales, who has alleged links to the coup plot and is a long-standing friend and former business partner of Mann’s, told the Guardian, “Simon and Mark did a number of business deals together—in mining, and aircraft and fuel brokerage.” Thatcher is said to have invested over £1100,000 in Mann’s company, Guernsey-based Logo Ltd. A similar amount is said to have been paid into an offshore account belonging to Mann by Lord Archer. An aide to President Obiang said that Thatcher’s name would be added to Archer’s and those of four businessmen in a legal action being brought by Obiang at the High Court in London for compensation. President Obiang has also claimed that other leading Tories were involved in the coup plot.

He told Jeune Afrique/L’Intelligent that “certain elements also indicate that Thatcher and a former Thatcher cabinet minister whom I cannot name handled the financial planning of the coup.” According to Mann’s handwritten confession, which his lawyers claim was extracted under duress by the authorities in Zimbabwe, he held a series of meetings in January with potential investors on how they would benefit from replacing Obiang with Spanish-based exiled opposition leader, Severo Moto. The coup plotters counted on international support for their efforts at a time when global corporations were seeking to tap into Equatorial Guinea’s oil and when the ailing tyrant Obiang was planning to hand over power to his equally unstable playboy son, Teodorin. Mann was allegedly approached by Moto’s backers to plan a military coup, including the Lebanese oil tycoon, Eli Calil, who is a British citizen and lives in a £12 million home off the King’s Road in Chelsea, West London. Equatorial Guinea’s Information Minister Agustin Nze Nfumu has alleged Calil arranged to pay Mann $5 million to hire a group of mercenaries to oust Obiang. Mann was a natural choice.

In the 1980s he founded the mercenary outfit Executive Outcomes, which was involved in operations in both Sierra Leone and Angola. If the coup had been successful, its backers would have allegedly been given oil concessions in a state that produces 350,000 barrels a day. A former South African Special Forces commander who worked with Mann and is accused of participating in the plot, Nick du Toit, has turned state witness and named both Calil and Moto as co-conspirators. On November 15, 2003, Mann’s Logo Logistics signed an agreement with a group of Lebanese investors in the Asian Trading and Investment Group SAL, which is allegedly linked to Calil and was used to channel funds for the coup attempt.

According to the Observer, the Lebanese investors were to provide Mann’s company with $5 million for “mining, fishing, aviation and commercial security projects in West Africa.” Mann also signed an agreement with Du Toit on December 1, which guaranteed financing from Logo Logistics of up to $2 million for “unspecified projects.” Du Toit also apparently set up a company in December 2003, Triple Option Trading, that was half-owned by three senior members of Equatorial Guinea’s ruling elite and he was possibly used to infiltrate the plot from the outset. According to Mann’s own written testimony, he met with Moto in Spain in early 2003. Mann says his role was to escort Moto to Equatorial Guinea at the time when “simultaneously there would be an uprising of both military and civilians against Obiang.” Mann himself is said to have put in $400,000 to cover the cost of a Boeing 727 bought a week before the coup attempt from a firm in Kansas, specially converted for US military use so that it could take off and land on shorter runways.

It is alleged that in February, Mann had flown to Harare to discuss a consignment of arms with officers of the state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries, to be delivered on February 20 to the airstrip at Kolwezi in Congo that was under the control of a local rebel leader. A plane would then send the weapons to Equatorial Guinea via Harare, but apparently failed to appear. Nevertheless, on Sunday, March 7, Logo Logistics’ Boeing 747 left South Africa with 65 soldiers on board, and two packages of cash amounting to $130,000, and landed in Zimbabwe where they were supposed to meet up with Mann, and pick up weapons including 150 hand grenades, 80 60mm mortar bombs, 100 RPG-7 anti-tank projectiles with 10 launchers, 20 light machine guns, 61 AK-47 assault rifles and 75,000 rounds of ammunition. Instead they were arrested. The Obiang regime also announced the arrest of more mercenaries led by Du Toit.

In his televised confession Du Toit claims that he recruited more than 60 veterans of bush wars in Angola and Mozambique, whom he promised $6,000 each if they fought their way into Equatorial Guinea’s capital, Malabo, and removed Obiang from power or killed him. Mann’s confession states that he met with at least a dozen British millionaires, including some household names. One of these told the press anonymously, “Simon said he wanted around 10 people to each invest about £100,000. He claimed this consortium would share an immediate payout of £15 million once the coup had taken place, followed by profits from oil deals.” Lord Archer was allegedly one of those approached, and is said to have paid money into an offshore bank account belonging to Mann just four days before the coup attempt fell apart. Legal documents and bank account details are said to show a payment by J.H. Archer, Lord Archer’s initials, made to one of Mann’s companies for $134,980 to an account at the Royal Bank of Scotland in St Peter Port, Guernsey.

Though Mann’s friends insist that his confession was beaten out of him, evidence of his connection with Mark Thatcher and his possible involvement comes from a different source. Mann attempted to smuggle a letter to his wife, which was intercepted by Zimbabwean and South African intelligence. In the letter Mann pleads for help from some of his influential friends, who he calls “Scratcher” and “Smelly.” Smelly was Eli Calil. Scratcher was Mark Thatcher. The Times quotes the letter stating, “I must say once again: what will get us out is MAJOR CLOUT. We need heavy influence of the sort that ... Smelly, Scratcher”. According to the Guardian, Mann wrote his wife, “Our situation is not good and it is very URGENT.... They [the lawyers] get no reply from Smelly and Scratcher [who] asked them to ring back after the Grand Prix race was over! This is not going well.” Mann went on to write in a way that suggests that “Scratcher’s”/Thatcher’s involvement in the coup was direct. He writes, “It may be that getting us out comes down to a large splodge of wonga! Of course investors did not think this would happen.

Did I? Do they think they can be part of something like this with only upside potential—no hardship or risk of this going wrong. Anyone and everyone in this is in it—good times or bad. Now its bad times and everyone has to F-ing well pull their full weight.” He then concludes, “Anyway [another contact] was expecting project funds inwards to Logo [Mann’s firm] from Scratcher (200).... If there is not enough, then present investors must come up with more.” Mann was clearly expecting Sir Mark to make a $200,000 (£111,000) investment, but he does not specify whether it was for the coup. The Guardian states that the letter also refers to David Hart, the former Old Etonian millionaire and union-busting adviser to Margaret Thatcher when she was prime minister during the 1984-85 miners strike. It quotes the letter more fully stating, “We need heavy influence of the sort that ... Smelly, Scratcher ...

David Hart and it needs to be used heavily and now.” Thatcher’s lawyer, Peter Hodes, said Sir Mark was arrested on suspicion of providing financing for a helicopter linked to the coup plot and that he would plead not guilty. Du Toit testified in court on the day of Thatcher’s arrest that Sir Mark had met Mann in July 2003 and shown interest in buying military helicopters for a mining enterprise in Sudan, but he said that the meeting was a “normal business deal” unrelated to any coup plot. There have been rumours that Thatcher made an investment in Mann’s Logo Ltd company through a South African company called Triple A Aviation, which signed a contract to provide aircraft and aviation services in January. The company, which trades as Air Ambulance Africa, paid $100,000 (£55,000) into Logo’s account on March 2, less than a week before the coup attempt. Niel Steyl, the brother of the head of Air Ambulance, Crause Steyl, is a former pilot for Mann’s Executive Outcomes and was piloting the Boeing that was seized in Harare.

The Guardian states that its sources claim that Triple A also provided the twin-engined King Air turboprop that flew the exiled Equatorian Guinea opposition leader, Severo Moto, from Spain to Bamako, Mali on the eve of the alleged coup attempt. Mark Thatcher is a chancer, who has accrued a substantial personal fortune largely by trading off his mother’s name and connections. At the top school of Harrow, where he was known as “Thickie Mork,” he passed only three O levels and made poor A level grades. He failed his accountancy examinations three times, one of a string of failed careers including selling jewellery, racing driving, and entrepreneur. Nevertheless he has succeeded in amassing a personal fortune in excess of £60 million as a result of various shady deals. In 1982 he famously got lost in the Sahara desert for six days during the Paris to Dakar rally. But it was his business deals that showed his true mettle. In 1981, Margaret Thatcher secured a £300 million construction deal in Oman for Cementation, a Trafalgar House subsidiary. Her son was accused of receiving payments as an intermediary in the contract.

In 1985, he was said to have pocketed £12 million in commissions after his mother signed the al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia. He has also been accused of using a handwritten note from his mother, addressed to the ruler of Abu Dhabi, to secure a profitable deal and of connections with the Pergau dam affair, when British aid was allegedly linked to a £1.3 billion contract placed by Malaysia in Britain. In the mid-1980s, he moved to the United States where he worked as a representative of Lotus cars and where he married the millionairess Diane Burgdorf. It was as a result of tax investigations following the failure of some of his business ventures that the couple moved to South Africa in 1995. It appears that Thatcher had returned to South Africa only in order to prepare a secret move to live in Texas. Makhosini Nkosi, a spokesman for South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority, said, “It does appear that he was planning to leave the country. The house was on the market, he had disposed of some of the cars, and there were suitcases around the house which indicated they were planning to leave.

He did confirm he was planning to relocate to Texas.” Sir Mark Thatcher is refused a US visa over criminal record - Telegraph Sir Mark Thatcher is refused a US visa over criminal record Sir Mark Thatcher: will set up home ‘in Europe’ By Catriona Davies 12:01AM BST 04 Apr 2005 Sir Mark Thatcher has been banned from joining his family in America because of his part in a failed African coup . US authorities refused Sir Mark's application for a visa because of the criminal record he received when he pleaded guilty in South Africa to funding a plot to overthrow the president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Sir Mark, who admitted paying £150,000 for a helicopter that he "suspected" might be used for mercenary activities, has been living with his mother, Lady Thatcher, in London since he left South Africa in January. His American wife Diane, 44, moved to Dallas, Texas, with their children, Michael, 15, and Amanda, 11, soon after Sir Mark was arrested in South Africa last year while he remained there under effective house arrest to face the charges.

Related Articles Thatcher in court for questions 19 Feb 2005 He had planned to join his family in Dallas immediately after the court hearing, but discovered that his visa had expired. He moved instead to London while a team of lawyers applied for a new visa. However, it has now emerged that their efforts have failed. Despite having an American wife, Sir Mark cannot set foot in the country to visit his children. Sir Mark, 51, said yesterday: "It is quite true that my visa application has been rejected. "It was always a calculated risk when I plea-bargained in South Africa. "As a result of this decision, I shall make the family home in Europe, not the UK, and my family will be joining me as soon as arrangements are made. But the children will continue to be educated in America." Sir Mark and his family have lived separately since they left South Africa within days of his arrest last August. Then, his spokesman sought to dispel speculation that their 17-year marriage was in trouble, saying that his wife would join him once she had installed the children in a new school in Texas.

When Sir Mark received a four-year suspended sentence and £265,000 fine in January - allowing him to leave South Africa for the first time since his arrest - he said he was desperate to rejoin his wife and children. It proved, however, to be easier said than done. US anti-terror laws restrict visas for foreigners with criminal convictions, particularly if they have links to terrorist activities, although each case is assessed on an individual basis. Legal hurdles may prevent Thatcher coup trial in UK | News | World | M&G Legal hurdles may prevent Thatcher coup trial in UK Staff Reporter 07 Nov 2009 06:58 The investigation into Sir Mark Thatcher’s role in the failed coup in Equatorial Guinea could be hindered by legal obstacles, which may mean he could never be prosecuted in this country, according to senior law enforcement sources. Scotland Yard detectives are engaged in what is said to be a serious and protracted inquiry into allegations that Old Etonian Simon Mann, along with Thatcher and others, orchestrated the attempt to oust the country’s president during meetings in London in late 2003 and early 2004.

According to the former prosecutor in Equatorial Guinea, detectives from the counter-terrorism command at the Yard visited Mann in prison five times. He is said to have co-operated fully. The evidence relating to Thatcher’s alleged involvement in the coup as a key player is believed to be held in testimonies given to Yard officers by the British mercenary, and in documents handed to the Metropolitan police by Equatorial Guinea and held by officials in South Africa. But despite months of gathering evidence in a detailed inquiry, investigators could stumble when it comes to considering any charges against the son of the former prime minister. As Thatcher has already been convicted in South Africa of paying for a helicopter he suspected might be used for mercenary activity, the likelihood that he could be prosecuted in this country on the same evidence for a similar offence is very slim, according to senior legal and police sources. When he talks to the police in the UK, Mann will have to come up with something new and powerful if the prosecution is to go ahead, it is understood. The sources indicated that the pursuit of Thatcher was primarily hindered by fears of double jeopardy because of his South African conviction, despite the fact that this took place in a different jurisdiction. Adrian Chaplin, a criminal barrister in London, agreed.

He said there were potentially huge problems of abuse of process should Thatcher be charged with anything. “If there was an attempt to take him through the courts here there would be a fairly powerful argument to say: ‘What’s the point because he has been convicted and punished already,’” he said. Thatcher was first implicated in the coup attempt in a letter written by Mann and intercepted by the South African police while he was being held in Harare, after his arrest following the failed plot in 2004. Written to his wife in Cape Town it made a request for money from the alleged financiers Scratcher, his nickname for Thatcher, and Smelly, a nickname for the Lebanese-born businessman Ely Calil. Both Thatcher and Calil deny involvement in the coup attempt. Other evidence which could be used against Thatcher is the testimony of Crause Steyl, a South African mercenary pilot who was on the plane the night of the coup. He was never arrested and returned to South Africa where a deal was struck. He cooperated with the authorities by telling them everything he knew, and he talked about Thatcher. According to Adam Roberts, author of The Wonga Coup, a detailed account of the plot, that was when the whole story about Thatcher exploded.

Rumours about his involvement had been swirling for some time, but with Steyl’s plea bargain evidence the South Africans arrested Thatcher in a move watched with disbelief by the world’s press. In South Africa Thatcher eventually admitted breaking the country’s anti-mercenary laws, by giving money to someone despite suspecting the cash would be used for mercenary activity. Initially Thatcher told the authorities he had thought the $275 000 was to be used to fund an air ambulance for Africa’s poor. But he accepted that at some point before the coup attempt, he suspected the helicopter might be used for a mercenary plot. Thatcher was convicted in January 2005, fined $450 000 and given a four-year suspended sentence. He left South Africa shortly afterwards. The third plank of evidence which could be used against him is Mann’s testimony during his interviews with Scotland Yard detectives, who visited him in Black Beach prison after his trial ended in Equatorial Guinea last July. Mann implicated Thatcher, as he had done at his trial, when he said Thatcher was “not just an investor.

He came on board completely and became part of the management team.” He also is understood to have continued to implicate Calil, who he named at his trial, saying he was the “overall boss”. But Mann’s testimony will be one of the legal problems. The statements he made in Equatorial Guinea are tainted by the threat of ill-treatment or even death in prison. He is likely to repeat his statements under caution to the British police but even away from the threat of torture or death, his testimony might not be enough to lead to a prosecution of Thatcher. Equatorial Guinea is still seeking to see Thatcher in court. President Teodoro Obiang said Thatcher would “definitely” be brought to justice. But his government has not asked Spanish police to arrest him. - guardian.co.uk Mark Thatcher To enjoy the full Mail & Guardian online experience: please upgrade your browser Mark Thatcher World Staff Reporter | 2009-11-29 19:51:00 Simon Mann, a British mercenary jailed for plotting against the government of Equatorial Guinea, has said South Africa tacitly supported a failed...

National Staff Reporter | 2009-11-22 19:35:00 A gun was placed to his head and he was threatened with death by an adviser to Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, mercenary Nick... News Sandra Laville , Giles Tremlett | 2009-11-13 06:00:00 Mark Thatcher may never be prosecuted in the United Kingdom for his role in the failed coup in Equatorial Guinea, say senior British law enforcement sources.... World Staff Reporter | 2009-11-07 06:58:00 The investigation into Sir Mark Thatcher's role in the failed coup in Equatorial Guinea could be hindered by legal obstacles, which may mean he... World Staff Reporter | 2009-11-06 07:44:00 Documents detailing Sir Mark Thatcher's alleged involvement in the botched coup in Equatorial Guinea are among evidence being examined by Scotland...

News Robert Booth , Sandra Laville | 2009-11-05 07:12:00 Former PM's son and oil tycoon Eli Calil 'should face justice' over failed plot in Equatorial Guinea, says Mann World Staff Reporter | 2009-11-04 07:40:00 From the windows of the £3-million Casa Flores mansion in one of the Costa del Sol's most exclusive and luxurious enclaves, there are unspoilt... News Mail & Guardian Online reporter and Sapa , Sapa-AP | 2009-11-03 11:12:00 Simon Mann, who was sentenced to 34 years in prison in Equatorial Guinea in 2008 for plotting a coup, has been granted a presidential pardon. Equatorial Guinea coup plotter Simon Mann arrives home and puts Mark Thatcher in the frame | Daily Mail Online Enlarge Mann appeared gaunt but elated as he spoke to reporters in the court yesterday He has previously given statements to British detectives who visited him three times while behind bars in Equatorial Guinea's notorious Black Beach prison.

And the former SAS soldier said: 'I am very happy to restate those things in court in the UK as a witness for the prosecution.' Mann was freed by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema after serving just 15 months of a 34-year sentence for the abortive 'dogs of war' coup to topple the oil-rich West African state's government. Wonderful homecoming: Ivan Monk, a spokesman for Simon Mann, reads a statement to journalists after Mann arrived back at Luton Airport this afternoon The father-of-seven insists he was merely 'the manager - not the architect and not the main man'. Both Sir Mark and Mr Calil, a friend of Peter Mandelson, have always denied playing any part in the coup. Jose Olo Obono, who was chief prosecutor at Mann's trial, said he was confident he would assist detectives investigating the failed coup. He said: 'Simon Mann has served as a very useful witness for us so that this affair can be clarified. Mann was arrested in 2004 (file photo) Amanda Mann, Simon's third wife.

Friends and family have paid £200,000 for his release If he repeats his allegations, his former 'I don't think his behaviour will change when he returns to Britain. I am confident he will help British police when he returns. 'This may be the end of Simon Mann's stay in our country but it is not the end of our investigation, and our desire to make sure everyone involved faces justice.' Mann arrived at Luton Airport yesterday lunchtime, after a seven-hour flight, accompanied by his brother Edward and sister Sarah. A statement read on his behalf said: 'This is the most wonderful homecoming I could ever have imagined. 'There hasn't been a moment when I have not dreamt of one day being back in Britain with my family. 'I am especially looking forward to meeting my son, Arthur, who was born a few months after I left the country and who consequently I have never seen. 'I am hugely grateful to President Obiang for releasing me. It's the best early Christmas present my family and I could have possibly imagined.

'Dachau of Africa': A cell in Black Beach prison, where Mann was kept for two years before his pardon yesterday Questions: Sir Mark Thatcher has been accused of orchestrating and financing the 2004 coup 'I've been away for five-and-a halftough years, much of it in solitary confinement. I now need time to adjust.' A family friend said: 'He is in good spirits and seemed fine. He was very happy to be back. 'Simon has come back after a very unimaginable time away in some fairly unimaginable places. He needs times with his family to reconnect with them. He is delighted to be back.' The Mail revealed yesterday that Mann was released for a fee of &pound;200,000 despite initial demands by Equatorial Guinea for &pound;270million. During interviews before his trial in July last year he confessed to his involvement in the coup and implicated Sir Mark Thatcher and Mr Calil. In a documentary - to be screened by BBC Four's Storyville series - Mann reveals he wrote to President Obiang before his trial asking for a pardon. He said: 'I think I would have earned a pardon anywhere in the world.

Now the response I had to that was, informally, that it was basically "we don't disagree with you".' London-based millionaire Eli Calil, left, was believed to have financed the plot against Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, right THE KEY PLAYERS Simon Mann - Second in command of the coup and jailed for 34 years for his part Ely Calil - An oil tycoon said to have been the main financial backing behind the plot Sir Mark Thatcher - Son of the former PM was said to have carried out the 'administration' of the plot. He admitted financing a helicopter and received a suspended sentence and fine.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo - President of Equatorial Guinea who himself took power by staging a coup to overthrow his uncle Severo Moto - the former president who was in exile in Spain, and who the plotters were said to want restored to power 'Wonga Coup' mercenaries fixed Gaddafi's doomed last flight | The Independent Africa 'Wonga Coup' mercenaries fixed Gaddafi's doomed last flight Kim Sengupta reveals an amazing escape plan that ended in the dictator's death – and in claims of treachery Tuesday 1 November 2011 00:00 BST Click to follow 'Wonga Coup' mercenaries fixed Gaddafi's doomed last flight 1/3 Gaddafi driving his tractor in 1986 Getty Images Members of the failed Wonga Coup attempt on Equatorial Guinea PA 3/3 Gadaffi was finally cornered in a drain in Sirte before he was taken away and executed Reuters Gaddafi driving his tractor in 1986 An international operation to rescue Muammar Gaddafi from his besieged last refuge involved mercenaries who had taken part in the notorious "Wonga Coup" led by former SAS officer Simon Mann, The Independent has learnt

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Crause Steyl, a pilot and one-time business partner of Sir Mark Thatcher, had taken part, along with the former prime minister's son, in the failed attempt to overthrow the dictator of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. He was asked, just after the Libyan dictator's death, to fly stranded soldiers of fortune out of a mission "which had gone badly wrong". (He declined to help.) The private force of South Africans are said to have undertaken the task of getting Gaddafi out of the country via the convoy in the belief it had the backing of the Western powers. The men were recruited, it is claimed, by a woman of British background – whose name cannot currently be published for legal reasons – living in Kenya and working on behalf of a company in London. However, the extraction of Gaddafi ended in ferocious violence and confusion when the convoy carrying him out of Sirte, his birthplace where he made his final stand, drove into an ambush with sustained air strikes from French warplanes and ground attacks from rebel fighters. The venture came to a bloody end, with Gaddafi tortured and killed, and some of the South Africans with him reported killed, injured and captured. This has led to recriminations and accusations of betrayal.

At least some of those taking part believe that the hidden aim of those who had hired them was not to save the former Libyan leader but to deliver him into the hands of his enemies. Details of the South African involvement and the link of some of the former soldiers and policemen to the failed Equatorial Guinea plot seven years ago were revealed by Mr Mann after he had spoken to Mr Steyl. Included among those said to be attempting to get out of Libya, he was told, was a former South African soldier who was involved in the failed coup with both Sir Mark Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher's son, and Mr Mann. Another group of mercenaries from the same contingent, meanwhile, are said to be "protecting" Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi's son, and a prominent, belligerent face of the regime during the civil war, who is reported to have fled to a region bordering Algeria, Niger and Mali. Saif al-Islam is said to be negotiating with the International Criminal Court to hand himself in to face war crimes charges. However, there are also reports that his armed escort may be trying to move him outside the court's jurisdiction to Zimbabwe.

Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said: "We have some information that there is a mercenary group trying to help him to move to a different country, so we are trying to prevent this activity. We are also working with some states to see if we can disrupt this attempt. Some of these mercenaries are South African, allegedly." Mr Steyl's part in the Equatorial Guinea coup involved arranging a lease for a Boeing 707, which was eventually intercepted in the Zimbabwean capital Harare in the process of transporting arms to carry out the overthrow of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Mr Steyl, too, ended up giving evidence against Thatcher in court. Mr Steyl stressed that he refused the mission to airlift 50 fighters out of Libya. Former Scots Guard officer Simon Mann, who has served prison sentences in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea for his role in the attempted coup, said last night: "We are concerned about what may have happened to those who had been injured, who may have been arrested. "I would personally like to help in any way I can, legally, to help get them out... These are people I knew and obviously I don't want to see them suffer.

I hasten to add, of course, that I was not involved in any way in this Libyan operation." Some of the South Africans captured by the Libyan rebels appear to have been treated with remarkable leniency. Captured regime mercenaries, the vast majority of them black sub-Saharan Africans, faced summary execution in the hands of revolutionaries. But some of the ones taken after the Sirte bombing were spirited away and even transported abroad for medical treatment. Danie Odendaal, one of the fighters, claimed he was with Gaddafi when the convoy was attacked. He has told South African media that three groups of South Africans were flown in to Libya via Dubai and Cairo to help the Gaddafi family under a deal done with Nato. The plan, he said, was initially to take Gaddafi to Niger. "We all believed they [certain Western countries] wanted him out of Libya. But then Nato attacked. It was a gruesome, gruesome orgy, I think we were sold out". The dictator suffered brutal abuse before being killed. "The poor thing screamed like a pig," he said. However, some rebels then helped the South Africans get away from the scene.

The Independent has learnt that Mr Odendaal, who was travelling on a Greek passport, was sent to Cairo to receive treatment for injuries he had received and has since moved to Western Europe. However not all the mercenaries have been freed and Mr Odendaal has named two South Africans who were killed in the frantic confusion around Sirte. But the identities remain unverified and next-of-kin have not been informed. Revolutionary fighters present at the time of Gaddafi's capture spoke of seeing bodies of white mercenaries which later disappeared. Abdullah Hakim Husseini, of the Misrata brigade, recalled: "There were, I think, three or four bodies of foreigners. We were told not to touch them, they would not be going back to Misrata... Later I heard they were from Zimbabwe and South Africa." Mercenaries: key players Danie Odendaal Though it was widely reported that Colonel Gaddafi had recruited mercenaries to protect him as his regime unravelled, his hired guns were generally thought to be made up of poor sub-Saharan Africans.

The revelation that his closest guards included three groups of more experienced former policemen and soldiers from South Africa is therefore striking – especially as Nato, the very force targeting Gaddafi's regime, has been implicated in assisting them to enter Libya. The information has come from Danie Odendaal, who says he was among the men protecting the dictator in the moments before he died, and had been hoping to smuggle him over the border into Niger. He claims that two of his fellow countrymen died in the final firefight that led to the capture and killing of the dictator. Mr Odendaal is now being treated in a North African hospital. It has been reported that the men were paid $15,000 (£9,300) for the operation, with interviews carried out in August – two months before Gaddafi was tracked down. Crause Steyl The crack South African mercenary pilot was called upon for his negotiating skills and links in the aviation world as much as for his flying ability during the failed coup in 2004, when he was asked to secure an airliner to carry arms from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea.

This time he is said to have been asked to rescue fellow mercenaries from Libya, shortly after the death of Gaddafi, a request he insists he refused. Mr Steyl was being lined up as a leading witness in the case against Sir Mark Thatcher – which ultimately did not go ahead after plea bargaining which resulted in Sir Mark admitting his guilt to a lesser charge – and said that his role was kept secret because of his relations to the former British Prime Minister. More about: Simon Mann's family 'delighted' at pardon from Equatorial Guinea - Telegraph Equatorial Guinea Simon Mann's family 'delighted' at pardon from Equatorial Guinea The family of former British soldier Simon Mann have spoken of their delight after he was granted a full pardon for his part in a failed coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

Simon Mann was sentenced to a 34-year jail term after admitting conspiring to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, leader of the tiny West African country Photo: REUTERS 11:05AM GMT 03 Nov 2009 Mann, 57, was sentenced to a 34-year jail term after admitting conspiring to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, leader of the tiny West African country. A statement released by the Mann family read: ''The family is absolutely delighted that Simon has been pardoned and is to be released shortly.Everyone is profoundly grateful to the President and the Government of Equatorial Guinea. "The whole family is overjoyed at the prospect of finally welcoming Simon home after five-and-a-half long years away." Mann was granted the full pardon on humanitarian grounds, a statement on the website of Equatorial Guinea's Information Ministry said. The mercenary has been held in the country's notorious Black Beach prison and is expected to be released later today. He will then be free to return to the UK.

Related Articles 03 Nov 2009 A family spokesman said Mann was due to arrive home "in the next few days". A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We have been informed of the imminent release of Simon Mann. We understand this was a personal decision by the President of Equatorial Guinea on humanitarian grounds." Mann was sentenced in July last year following a high-profile trial. The former SAS officer was accused of masterminding an operation to oust President Obiang. The old Etonian was originally arrested with around 70 other people, mostly former soldiers, when their aircraft arrived at an airport in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, in March 2004. The plan was to put opposition leader Severo Moto, who is exiled in Madrid, in power and gain control over the country's oil wealth. At first Mann denied that the group had come to collect weapons for a coup. His lawyers claimed they were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help secure diamond mines. He was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe for conspiring to buy weapons of war. Mann said he suffered a violent abduction in February from Chikrubi prison in Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea.

He has always insisted that he was not the main man behind the plot. Equatorial Guinea held its first trial into the alleged plot in August 2004. South African arms dealer Nick Du Toit was sentenced to 34 years in prison as a result of the case. Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher, was given a suspended sentence in South Africa in relation to the funding of Mann's operation, though he has always denied any knowledge that a coup was being plotted. During his trial Mann told the court the ex-prime minister's son was "part of the management team" behind the failed plot and "not just an investor". Four other men - Mr du Toit, Sergio Cardoso, Jose Domingos and George Alerson were also granted pardons for their part in the plot. Supreme Court Chief Justice Obono Olo, who was the attorney general who prosecuted the coup plotters, said Mann and his accomplices would be freed at some point today. He denied rumours that Mann was unwell, telling the Associated Press that he was "fine, fit." The country is Africa's third biggest oil producer but many of its people remain poor.

It is also considered to be among the continent's worst violators of human rights.

Question: Sir Mark Thatcher was arrested and prosecuted for assisting a coup in which African country?
Answer: Equatorial Guinea