Thatcher case twist as list of alleged coup backers vanishes

[seemslikeadream]

MICHAEL SETTLE, Chief UK Political Correspondent August 27 2004


THE Thatcher saga took a dramatic twist last night when it emerged a key witness in the police investigation has disappeared, taking with him a list of wealthy individuals who supposedly bankrolled an alleged coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
South African police would like to interview James Kershaw, a computer expert, and get their hands on the so-called "Wonga List".
They would like to discover if Sir Mark Thatcher's name is among those who financed the alleged attempt to exploit the massive oil reserves by ousting Teodoro Obiang, the hardline president, and replacing him with Severo Moto, an opponent in exile in Spain.
The son of the former Tory prime minister has been accused of supplying a helicopter gunship to be used in the coup. He denies any wrongdoing.
Late last night, Equatorial Guinea revealed it had started proceedings to try to have Sir Mark extradited from South Africa.
Mr Kershaw, in his late 20s, is said to be the trusted lieutenant of Simon Mann, a friend of Sir Mark's and the purported ringleader of the failed attempt to overthrow Mr Obiang.
He was interviewed by police shortly after Mr Mann, a former Scots Guardsman, was arrested with more than 60 others in Harare as they waited for arms to be loaded on to their plane bound for Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. Mr Mann has pleaded guilty to trying to procure arms but insists they were to be used to guard mines.
After his police interview, Mr Kershaw left his address in Pretoria and his phone numbers were discontinued. His name was recently mentioned in court linked to Mr Mann's and in connection with allegations he recruited some of the supposed mercenaries.
Mr Mann and more than 80 others are now on trial in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea on charges that include terrorism and trying to assassinate a head of state. Some face the death penalty.
Yesterday, police suggested Sir Mark's wife, Diane, and their two children were just days from fleeing Cape Town for Dallas, Texas, when he was arrested.
Plane tickets had been booked for Monday and when members of South Africa's FBI-style Scorpions unit turned up to arrest Sir Mark early on Wednesday morning suitcases were strewn around his luxury home.
It was also claimed he had in the past week sold four vehicles, put his house on the market for £1.8m, and enrolled his two children in Texas schools.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/22939.html

[goforit]

1. Tony Blair and Dick Cheney on that list???Or better yet...Kenny Lay??

The suspense is killing me.
LOL!!!...........What a PNAC Plot!!!

[al bupp]

3. The Texas Link Is Right There!

Quoting from the article:

Yesterday, police suggested Sir Mark's wife, Diane, and their two children were just days from fleeing Cape Town for Dallas, Texas, when he was arrested.
Plane tickets had been booked for Monday and when members of South Africa's FBI-style Scorpions unit turned up to arrest Sir Mark early on Wednesday morning suitcases were strewn around his luxury home.
It was also claimed he had in the past week sold four vehicles, put his house on the market for £1.8m, and enrolled his two children in Texas schools.

I would say that this implies associations to certain Texas oilmen. Will our 5th Estate connect the dots? I'm not holding my breath.

[seemslikeadream]

4. Snazzy found this photo awhile back!

Father T C Bergdorf. No info on him or the company

[al bupp]

5. That's Good for a Chuckle

[Snazzy]

9. And where is Mummy? The Hamptons of course--Little pre RNC party

HAMPTONS DIARY

August 24, 2004 -- WHILE local Dem ocrats were sloshing around in the mud to support John Kerry at Alan and Susan Patricof's home in East Hampton on Saturday, Republican bigwigs attended a drier dinner at Carroll Petrie's Southampton home, held in honor of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Rudy and Judi Giuliani joined former Sen. Al D'Amato and his new wife, Katuria Smith, GOP power players Nancy Brinker and Gail Hilsom, Reagan biographer Bob Colacello, Newsweek columnist Lally Weymouth, actress Dina Merrill and her husband, RKO Pictures chairman Ted Hartley, and New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger for the swank 30-person affair.

Diary hears guests dined on salmon mousse, followed by ice cream sundaes, after which Petrie asked Giuliani to say a few words. The former mayor, who sat next to the 78-year-old former iron lady of Britain, praised her for being a great principled leader, even when public opinion was against her. He added that President Bush is the same kind of leader.

Thatcher, who is staying with longtime pal Petrie for four days, also had dinner in Mirko's in Watermill the previous night and liked it so much, Petrie asked the eatery to open up just for them for Sunday lunch.

....

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/29434.htm

(Sorry for the Murdoch link--no need to click it--that's it on this subject in the gossip column)

[seemslikeadream]

10. Coup hatched in Sandton?

August 27, 2004

By Tony Weaver

A list of names straight from the British high-society register has begun to emerge in the British media as either witting or unwitting accomplices in the alleged Equatorial Guinea coup bid.

As Sir Mark Thatcher ended his first day of virtual house arrest in his Cape Town mansion, yesterday's Evening Standard alleged that several of the alleged backers of plans to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's president were present at a Christmas party at Thatcher's home last December. His mother, former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was among the 70-plus guests, the Standard said.

The London newspaper also referred to meetings held by Simon Mann, the former SAS officer arrested in Zimbabwe in March and accused of masterminding the plan, at the Sandton Towers Hotel.

The paper said an investigation revealed how a network of friends and contacts were asked to invest money in the scheme. Some weren't told the full story, others knew the details - and were at the Christmas buffet in Constantia, Cape Town.
more

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=128&fArti...

[Snazzy]

14. Just a note to remember Steven B. Pfeiffer

DC Mega lawyer, a former Nato commander, Council on foreign Relations member, Yale Grad, and CEO of Riggs London. Something of an Africa specialist.

Who also happens to be a director of a SA company (Barloworld--sort of a Carlyle SA) which held/participated in a 'doing biz in SA conf.' in Aug of '02 at that hotel, and is based in Johannesburg/Sandton.

Edit: Yep, that's where their Corp. offices are. So this heavily heavily connected Riggs guy--ran London branch, but based in DC--has regular business in Sandton.

He's also the same guy that would have been ultimately responsible for moving Pinochet's money: first into Jersey accounts, then to the Bahamas. The names for the shells/trusts were Ashburton and Althrop, names related to not only Brit Royals, but also directly related to Brits doing biz in SA; Ashburton Investments, and the Earl Spencer (Althrop family name, neighbor of Thatcher).

Oh, here a kicker: Ashburton was holding a conference in that hotel the week of the coup attempt:

http://www.ashburton.com/XX_documents/06_latest_news/pr...

Ashburton's offices are there too, Sandton.

[Snazzy]

16. The father had something to do with Lotus Sports cars

USA or Texas dealer or something. Got him the job.

Mark Thatcher also had some security business (thinks that's the one which was sued/liened which caused him to leave Texas. Elad says that Jonathan Bush bailed him out of that--love a source on that one!)

Can only dig up rumors on him partying with Shrub so far.

Also saw mention of a firm called Matrix something is SA, which lent money on the sly to policemen (sort of a diplomatic loan shark).

But somewhere, hopefully sometime soon we will have some info which ties Thatcher directly to Riggs or Whistleass.

We do need to dig up the Chile auto-asphyxiation cover-up thing (those kinky brits and their crazy little empire!) though--not to mention everybody's pal Mahfouz.

[Dover]

2. This reads like a bad spy novel. Come on..."disappeared with the list"?

And I suppose that is the ONLY copy or clue as to who is involved. Intelligence people are in the dark, huh?

[seemslikeadream]

6. Witness set to hand key documents to South African investigators

By Kim Sengupta and Jonathan Brown
27 August 2004


A computer expert in possession of a list which reveals the identities of the rich and influential figures who allegedly backed the Equatorial Guinea coup plot has become an important witness for the prosecution.

The Independent has learnt that James Kershaw is preparing to give evidence in South Africa in any future trial of Sir Mark Thatcher, who is accused of involvement in an alleged plot to depose the president of the oil-rich west African state.

Mr Kershaw, 24, is believed to be in possession of what has become known as the "Wonga List" - details of people, including public figures in Britain, who allegedly bankrolled an attempt by mercenaries to overthrow the regime of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema and replace it with members of exiled opposition groups.

It is claimed that in return the backers would have been paid millions of pounds by the new government, as well as landing lucrative oil contracts.


more
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?st...

[seemslikeadream]

7. Young British accountant's 'Wonga List' preoccupies investigators

Documents show that a J H Archer (Lord Archer's initials) paid Mr Mann £74,000 by credit transfer four days before the former soldier was arrested.

Lord Archer's representatives have stressed that he had "no prior knowledge" of the coup and he now "considers the matter closed".

Also drawn into the controversy is the millionaire businessman David Hart, who advised Baroness Thatcher during the miners' strike and remains close to her.Mr Hart was named by Mr Mann in a letter from prison, pleading for help from his friends. Mr Hart has denied any involvement in the alleged coup plot.

It has also emerged that Mr Mann had approached Gianfranco Cicogna, a millionaire telecoms company owner who has among his friends the socialite Taki Theodoracopulos. Mr Cicogna said he refused an invitation to invest in a "project in Equatorial Guinea".

more
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?st...

[seemslikeadream]

8. Thatcher had a mining operation going in Sudan

Nick du Toit, a South African accused of being part of the mercenary team facing trial in the Equatorial Guinea capital of Malabo, claims that Lady Thatcher's son wanted to purchase helicopters for Sudan. Giving evidencethis week, Mr Du Toit said: "I also sold military helicopters. Thatcher had a mining operation going in Sudan and he wanted two Mi-8 helicopters for Sudan."

Natural resources and their proceeds is one of the sources of conflict between the Sudanese government and African rebel groups. The killings of civilians and ethnic cleansing in Darfur is described by the United Nations as the "worst humanitarian disaster in the world".
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?st...

[daleo]

11. Sir Mark?

I wonder what he ever did that got him the knighthood? I suppose just being Thatcher's little boy was enough.

[Carla in Ca]

13. The "Sir" is for being a Thatcher

thats all. Also, this coup is for oil. When those Texan oilmen get it going, it will produce 5% of the world's supply.

[daleo]

15. Thanks, that is what I figured

It makes sense that the coup is about control of oil, too.

[dArKeR]

12. Armenian accused gives evidence in coup case

Obiang announced their arrests on March 9, saying: "A group of mercenaries entered the country and was studying plans to carry out a coup d'etat."

Without going into details, Obiang said interrogation of the suspects revealed they were financed by multinational companies and "countries that do not like us."

A German suspect died in detention, officially of cerebral malaria, but with rights groups saying he was tortured to death.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art...

The point is to get at the truth so torture is okay.

[dArKeR]

17. Mann letter 'tipped off SA'

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - Sir Mark Thatcher's alleged part in the suspected coup in Equatorial Guinea was apparently mainly leaked by his bosom friend, Simon Mann, who tried to smuggle a letter out of the Chikurubi prison outside Harare.

The letter ended up in the hands of the South African intelligence community.

Mann, who was arrested at Harare International Airport on March 7 this year with 69 South Africans, was hoping in desperation that Thatcher and other influential parties could help him out of his predicament.

While it is still unsure precisely how watertight the case against Thatcher is and whether a court is likely to find him guilty of being the financier behind the coup plan, the British papers tried to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on Thursday.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1...

[Snazzy]

18. Ok, 'wonga' = 'bread', man. Greenbacks w/ little picture of the Queen

Yep, had to look it up. Apparently I need a little UK trip to catch up, learn about the right application of dosh and posh. Meantime I plan to drop 'wonga' on at least one random delegate this week....

Mark Thatcher 'planned to relocate to Texas'

FRED BRIDGLAND IN JOHANNESBURG AND KAREN MCVEIGH


MARK Thatcher was arrested by a crack South African police unit in connection with an African coup attempt because he was planning to quit his luxury Cape Town home and relocate to the United States next week, a senior detective said yesterday.

Thatcher, who is today under house arrest in his luxury home on the slopes of Table Mountain, had already sold his four vehicles, including two top-of-the range off-road vehicles, said Inspector Andrew Leask.

News of his planned departure emerged amid reports that a key witness in the investigation has disappeared. Jack Kershaw, a computer expert who is alleged to be the coup paymaster, appears to have gone to ground. His home and mobile telephones in South Africa are now registering unobtainable.

It was reported yesterday that Mr Kershaw, in his late 20s, is believed to be carrying the "wonga list" - the names and contact details of wealthy and powerful individuals who contributed funds to finance the alleged failed coup.

....

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1003632004

[seemslikeadream]

19. Mercenary accused 'guarded' Haiti's Aristide

August 20 2004 at 08:54AM

By Peta Thornycroft

Harare - One of the 70 alleged South African mercenaries on trial in Zimbabwe was guarding deposed Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide days before he was taken into custody.

Raymond Stanley Archer told a makeshift court in Zimbabwe's maximum security jail on Thursday that he was having lunch with his ex-wife in Johannesburg when he got a phone call offering him a job to guard a mine.

He said he had arrived back in South Africa three days earlier after an assignment as a bodyguard to Aristide - who has since been granted temporary asylum in South Africa - when a man whom he identified as James Kershaw contacted him on his cellphone.

'I have been recruited in the same way before'
"He said if I could get to the airport within an hour, I could have the job. I met the rest of the accused and flew out. I had met about 10 of them before.

"As far as I was concerned, we stopped in Harare to refuel."

He and three other accused who testified on Thursday said they would be paid $6 000 (about R39 000) a month to guard a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art...

[al bupp]

20. Coups "R" Us

Looks like the mine's their story, and they're sticking w/ it! Julian Brookes offers evidence of their long-time involvement in African politics.

From Mojo Blog (Mother Jones, March 2004):

There's more to the story : Back in the '70s and '80s, many of these men fought for the apartheid regime against its black-ruled neighbors. The U.S. and Britain, of course, backed the white government in its "anti-Communist" (read: "anti-black") struggle. It's no surprise, then, that the group's ringleaders have connections to both American and British intelligence agencies. In a (subscription-only) piece for South Africa's Mail and Guardian, Sam Sole and Stefaans Brummer offer this sketch of the operation's architect, Simon Mann:

Mann was one of the founders of Sandline International, a London-based private military company that worked closely with Executive Outcomes, the company formed in 1989 by former apartheid special forces operatives.

Executive Outcomes and later Sandline played a key role in major private military interventions, first in Angola in support of the MPLA government against Jonas Savimbiís Unita rebels and later in Sierra Leone, in the latter case allegedly with the tacit support of the British security services.

Mann's background made him the perfect intermediary for the negotiation and conduct of private operations in support of British military, diplomatic or commercial interests. A member of a prominent British brewing family, he attended Eton before joining the Scots Guards and later the elite Special Air Service. After leaving the SAS Mann specialised in computer security systems.

Mann's alleged co-conspirator, Nic du Toit, the article continues, has a similar resume. Du Toit, however, worked for a CIA-connected South African military company.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/blog/2004/03/MB_2004_10...

Here's more on EO from Stan Goff, once featured by Narconews and now published by FromTheWilderness:

Executive Outcomes, based in South Africa, and broken into smaller groups two years ago to further conceal its activities, is run by veterans of the Apartheid regime's dirty wars. The oddly named LIAT Finance and Construction, of Israel, specialized in raiding Sierra Leone for its diamonds, and Israeli mercenaries in Latin America are known to contract with governments and drug cartels by turns. Sandline of UK, mostly peopled by ex-SAS, was also involved in Sierra Leone.13. Blackwater has actually hired former members of the military of Augusto Pinochet, the reactionary dictator of Chile installed during a 1973 CIA-supported coup d'etat.14

The list of these PMCs is long and growing, and they are being filled with these macho military narcissists.

One of the tactical rationales for the use of these privatized combat units is that they are both more flexible and agile in responding to a world where asymmetric warfare is becoming the norm. The latter assessment is actually true to a high degree (even if the use of mercenaries to deal with this fact is ill-considered). With the overwhelming US technological superiority and its conventional military juggernaut, the option to confront the US militarily in a conventional manner has been effectively taken off the table worldwide.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/040604_mercs....

Then there's this from Disinfopedia:

With the passage of the new anti-mercenary law in South Africa, EO closed its doors 1 January 1999. The "mercenary corporation EO" thus officially existed from 1989 through 1998. As of March 1999, however, the EO Pretoria office was still open, with its associates most likely continuing their activities at a greatly reduced level of visibility under the banner of Lifeguard, Saracen, or another security firm linked to EO.

When researching EO, it must be understood that Eeben Barlow, its founder, was associated with the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) which had expertise in setting up front-companies to circumvent sanctions against apartheid era South Africa. With the demise of apartheid, individuals such as Barlow redirected these and other skills for private enterprise purposes. As a result, EO is connected to a weblike structure of multinational holding entities, mining and oil companies, and security and air transportation groups which have purposefully been created to mask its operations, those of its allied firms, and the various individuals involved. This network engages in what could be termed a post-Cold war form of "predatory capitalism" by specializing in the extraction of mineral and oil resources from troubled and failed-states.

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Executive_...

I put emphasize on "failed-states" since it was a favorite of * admin spokespeople in the run-up to the war in Iraq, and I think it shows a possible common thread of "shared reality" among the two groups. OK, that's a "like, duh" kind of point... but it's all I got right now.

Slanthe, Al

[seemslikeadream]

21. 'Mercenaries' back in SA

Johannesburg - Two suspected mercenaries returned home from Zimbabwe on Saturday after being acquitted on charges of attempting to illegally purchase arms to stage a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

South Africans Harry Carlse and Lourens Horne arrived in Johannesburg nearly six months after their arrest along with 68 other alleged soldiers of fortune in Harare during the stopover of their plane to pick up weapons.

The two men, however, could face charges in South Africa in connection with the alleged coup plot.

They were scheduled to undergo questioning by investigators on Monday, according to their lawyer Alwyn Griebenow
more
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1...

Where does an out of work mercenary go to find another job?

Thanks al for the links

Slan go foil

[dArKeR]

24. Harry Carlse a picture of him here: http://www.mg.co.za/

http://www.mg.co.za/

[dArKeR]

22. First pic I've seen of Simon Mann here:

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/photo/2004/08/29/...

[seemslikeadream]

23. 'Mercenaries' may split on Mann

29/08/2004 17:36 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Two suspected South African mercenaries will hand themselves over to police in Pretoria on Monday and may spill the beans on their British recruiter who allegedly plotted a coup in Equatorial Guinea, their lawyer said.

Harry Carlse and Lourens Horn arrived home from Zimbabwe on Saturday after being acquitted by a Harare court for their alleged role in a conspiracy to topple the president of the oil-rich west African state.

Carlse and Horn were arrested on March 7 at Harare airport alongside the Briton who allegedly recruited them, Simon Mann, a former member of the elite British army Special Air Services (SAS) unit.

Asked whether Carlse and Horn would provide South African police with information on Mann, Griebenow replied: "We shall see what could be said about Mann and we shall see whether any statements will be made."

The Johannesburg-based Sunday Independent newspaper reported that the elite Scorpions investigating unit was determined to close the net on the alleged masterminds of the coup which, according to unnamed police sources, include "British investors".

more
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1...

dArKeR
The Dogs of War


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[sattahipdeep]

25. Marketing the New 'Dogs of War'

Welcome to Shallowater, Texas!

http://www.globalbusinesses.com/shallbus /
___________________________________

Johnston says he performed well in the Army, due in part to his extensive previous experience working on aircraft. His
father owned a small airstrip in Shallowater, Texas, and Johnston talks about sneaking out in his father's plane the way
most people recollect sneaking out in their parents' car. After college he attended a small Christian university for a year
before enrolling in Rice Aviation, an aircraft maintenance trade school where Johnston earned his Airframe and
Powerplant certificate.

http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2002/06/26/bosnia...

[seemslikeadream]

26. The Dogs

Thanks dArKeR


sattahipdeep

[sattahipdeep]

27. All in the family

Tim Spicer


It doesn't look like the same guy. Unless he had a nose job. Could be brothers though.

I need sleep.

[seemslikeadream]

28. Judge suspends "mercenary" trial

Judge suspends "mercenary" trial
Tue 31 August, 2004 20:16


By Estelle Shirbon

"This trial has a clear international dimension. Many elements have developed outside, or far from the borders of Equatorial Guinea," Ncumu told the court on Tuesday.

The prosecution asked for the suspension on the day that summing up was due to start, saying new evidence was coming to light every day from investigations outside the country.

Obiang has ruled Equatorial Guinea since he had his despotic uncle killed in 1979. The country pumps 350,000 barrels of oil per day, making it sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest producer.

Du Toit has said the attempt was masterminded by "financial people" wanting to install exiled opposition leader Severo Moto.

Obiang has called the plot a conspiracy by foreign countries and firms and says investigators have found an elaborate web of payments to offshore accounts.

The government has asked for international arrest warrants for all those it suspects, including Moto and London-based businessmen Eli Calil and Greg Wales. It has also filed a suit for damages against the suspects in a London court.


http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=...

[sattahipdeep]

29. Indefinate...1. unclear; vague 2. lacking precise limits

3. uncertain; undecided....could be forever.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/default.stm

Last Updated: Tuesday, 31 August, 2004, 21:40 GMT 22:40 UK

A judge in Equatorial Guinea
suspends indefinitely the trial of
19 men on coup charges to
investigate new evidence.