Thatcher in bid to keep secrets

[seemslikeadream]

September 19 2004 at 04:55PM

By Kim Sengupta

.............

If they fail, 24 hours later details will officially emerge of the case against former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's son, which will show to what extent he might have been implicated by supposed fellow conspirators.

If the case goes ahead, Mark Thatcher will be asked, in the Wynberg magistrate's court, questions on behalf of lawyers acting for President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who, it is said, was due to be overthrown in the plot by a group of mercenaries and replaced by an opposition leader in exile. The prize was lucrative business concessions in the oil-rich state.

The main allegation likely to be levelled against Thatcher is that he was an active participant in the coup plot, providing $260 000 (R1,7-billion) for the operation. The fund was apparently for leasing an aircraft to fly exiled opposition leader Severo Moto to Equatorial Guinea from Mali after the coup had succeeded.

.......

Moto, accompanied by two British businessmen was in Las Palmas, on the Canary Islands, at the time, having arrived from mainland Spain. Thatcher's money was also used, it is likely to be alleged, to help acquire a Boeing 727 aircraft to transport former SAS officer Simon Mann and 67 men to Zimbabwe, en route to Malabo.

........

In January this year the company signed a contract to supply aircraft and aviation services to Logo Logistics, owned by Mann, who was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe last week on charges in connection with the coup. The plane, which was also used to pick up weapons at Harare, was flown by Steyl's brother, Niel.

........

more


http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20040919112428617C512190