Du Toit admits meeting Thatcher

[seemslikeadream]

25/08/2004 14:04 - (SA)



A July 3 2003 photo from files of Mark Thatcher and his mother, former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher, during the funeral of Denis Thatcher. (Chris Young, PA/AP)


Malabo - The head of a group of suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday admitted to having met Mark Thatcher, who has been arrested in South Africa over the same putsch.

Thatcher, the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is thought to have bankrolled the plot.

South African Nick du Toit, who faces a possible death sentence for leading the alleged botched coup bid, told a court here that the meeting with Thatcher was purely to clinch a business deal. "We talked strictly about business issues concerning the sale and purchase of helicopters," Du Toit said.

He added that the company he heads in Equatorial Guinea has full legal status "and is registered with the South African defence ministry".

Du Toit said he was put in contact with Thatcher by Simon Mann, a British businessman currently on trial in Zimbabwe in connection with the attempt to topple Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1578574,00.html

[emad]

1. Eli Calil, Jeffrey Archer next for the 6am wakeup call?

London Evening Standard snip:
Prosecutors in the case have called for the death penalty for Nick du Toit, one of the alleged plot masterminds.

Du Toit was arrested in the capital Malabo in March and accused of paving the way for the arrival of a plane carrying 70 suspected mercenariesand weapons. Equatorial Guinea has also accused British and South African oil broker and millionaire Eli Calil, who lives in Chelsea, and other foreign financiers of funding the alleged coup attempt.

Calil, a friend of Lord Archer, has claimed his name was provided under torture in Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe.

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/12774313?source=Evening%20Standard

[Matilda]

7. "Mummy" will have her knickers in a twist over this.

He has always been a hopeless case, and the only thing he was good
at was making money by dubious and never-explained means - largely
as a result of his mother pulling strings and introducing him to
"helpful" people.

A total loser, and a thoroughly unpleasant person by all accounts.

[seemslikeadream]

2. British businessman accused of leading role in failed coup

Exclusive Investigation: Mercenaries held over Equatorial Guinea plot identify west London consultant as mastermind
By Paul Lashmar and Adrian Gatton
16 May 2004


A management consultant from west London has been accused of being one of the masterminds behind a plot to overthrow the government of the oil-rich African state of Equatorial Guinea.

The failed coup - strikingly reminiscent of Frederick Forsyth's mercenary tale The Dogs of War - came to light in March with the dramatic arrests of 67 soldiers of fortune at Harare airport in Zimbabwe. Now a witness statement seen by The Independent on Sunday names Greg Wales, 53, an accountant and management consultant, as a key organiser behind the plot.

He vehemently denies any involvement. But the government of Equatorial Guinea has confirmed to the IoS that it now wishes to interview Mr Wales, who has homes in Chiswick and Wiltshire and a history of business in Africa.

A statement on behalf of the state and President of Equatorial Guinea said yesterday: "The appropriate authorities are anxious to interview Mr Wales in view of his apparent involvement in the attempted coup d'état." British lawyers acting for the government have asked Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch to investigate Mr Wales's role. "We believe attempting a coup against an elected government by the use of force is an act of international terrorism and should be investigated as such," one lawyer said

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


Mr du Toit claims that Mr Wales arranged much of the finance for the coup.


Mr Wales denies involvement in the coup. While he says he knows most of the key figures said to be involved in the failed plot, he stressed: "I was not involved in a coup. I do not even believe that there was a coup plot. This is all a deal between Mugabe and Obiang. If the government of Equatorial Guinea is saying I was involved then it is a joke."

But Mr du Toit identifies Mr Wales as a key organiser, in a statement seen by the IoS. It was signed in the presence of a British lawyer working for the government. In the statement he says: "The first person who I spoke to about the coup was Greg. I had not met him before. I do not know how he got my telephone number but this was probably through Simon Mann. I do not know his family name."

The IoS has confirmed that Mr du Toit had Greg Wales's personal mobile number in his notebook. Mr Wales is an old Africa hand and has been involved with Mr Mann over many years; Mr du Toit claims that Mr Wales arranged much of the finance for the coup.

At the time, Mr du Toit was based in Equatorial Guinea starting up businesses, including a deep-sea fishing project and an airfreight operation in partnership with ministers. In his statement he says: "He called me and asked me to meet him on 4 January 2004 in Sandton, South Africa. He said he had a business proposition for me ... I decided to see what he proposed."

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

The weapons supplied to Nick Du Toit's customers


The alleged mercenaries, arrested in March, are to be extradited to Equatorial Guinea to stand trial for plotting the overthrow of the government there. The Harare authorities announced the extradition last week, not long after receiving legal documents from lawyers representing the arrested men outlining their defence to various minor charges laid against them in Zimbabwe.

A court case would have revealed that the parastatal Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has been working for the past few years with a number of white South Africans in joint ventures to ship arms around the continent.

'There was no way he would have got involved in a coup'
The South African arms brokers, operating with offshore companies, registered in places like the Bahamas, were able to guarantee delivery of weapons "within 24 hours of payment being received, to anywhere in Africa," according to a source in Pretoria.

Once payment had been received, an aircraft would be dispatched from South Africa to Harare. It would load the weapons from military facilities at Harare airport and would then fly on to its final African destination, said the source
The weapons supplied to Nick Du Toit's customers could have come from three sources: The Zimbabwe National Army armouries; from weaponry captured by Zimbabwean troops in their involvement in the DRC or could be have been bought new.

more
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=9243

original thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=9558

[emad]

3. The boy Mark ... adventurer and would-be playboy

By Ed Harris, Evening Standard
25 August 2004

Snip:
Mark Thatcher remains best known for getting lost in the Sahara desert for six days during a gruelling car race in 1982. When he was found, he addressed the world's media with the words of Bruce Forsyth: "Nice to see you, to see you nice." The episode seemed to sum up the son of Margaret Thatcher as a rather feckless adventurer and wheelerdealer, a man who styled himself as a playboy, but whose character has been described as snooty, cocky and aloof.

Thatcher, now 50, has been subjected to allegations of conspiracy, money-laundering, usury, common-law fraud, deceptive trade practices, theft and assault. But nothing illegal has been uncovered and he has always denied impropriety. He gained three O-levels at Harrow and joined a firm of accountants. As his mother became Tory leader and premier, he became a businessman.

"The boy Mark", as his father Denis called him, made millions during the Eighties in an alleged arms deal to the Middle East. He lived in Texas, where he worked as a salesman for the Lotus car company. There he married Diane Burgdorf, daughter of a Texan car millionaire. They have two children. In America Thatcher created a complex web of companies. He came into contact with wealthy Middle-Eastern businessmen and made millions, it would seem, by acting as a "fixer". The bulk of his fortune was built up over the next nine years, and was said at one time to be £40 million. But he left Texas after a series of disastrous business ventures and costly legal wranglings.
Even after he had settled in 1996 in a £570,00 mansion in Constantia, Cape Town, Thatcher could not escape embarrassment and controversy.

In 1998 his company was investigated-over claims he had been running a "loan-shark" operation among government officials in South Africa.
Now his arrest over allegations he was involved in a planned coup in Equatorial Guinea seems simply the latest in a line of unsavoury controversies. Twin sister Carol wrote in her autobiography, describing the time when her brother was lost in the Sahara: "The episode did have one benefit. We could relax a little, for Mark had hung an 'occupied' sign on the family's 'embarrassing relative' slot."

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/12778760?source=Evening%20Standard

[seemslikeadream]

4. Tortured Equatoguinean "mercenary" blames Spanish link

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema:
Accused of systematic human rights violations.

© Ministère français des Affaires étrangères
afrol News, 24 August - Equatorial Guinea's prosecutor today called for the death penalty for South African national Nick du Toit, the alleged leader of a group accused of plotting a coup d'état. While Mr du Toit told the Malabo court he had headed operations, his wife told the press that he had been tortured into confessing. He also confirmed alleged links to Spain.

A total of eight South Africans, six Armenians and one German were detained by Equatoguinean forces in March this year, accused with plotting a coup. The German citizen has died in prison, allegedly due to torture. 70 alleged "mercenaries" with a connection to the Malabo group were thereupon detained in Zimbabwe, allegedly being on their way to Equatorial Guinea.

Mr du Toit is accused of being the head of the alleged "mercenary group" that Equatoguinean authorities say plotted to overthrow dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He and his group allegedly were preparing the arrival of the "mercenaries" from Zimbabwe that were to carry out the armed attack.

The South African "mercenary leader" today was cross examined by the prosecutor at the second day of the Malabo trial against the group of 14. Mr du Toit said he had been "promised a large amount of money" to head the operation and that he wanted to secure the businesses he is doing in the country. He took on sole responsibility and said the other 13 men were unaware of what they were into under his leadership.
more
http://www.afrol.com/articles/13785

[seemslikeadream]

5. SA may intervene in Du Toit case

GOVERNMENT said yesterday it would seek diplomatic intervention in the case of mercenary Nick du Toit if he was sentenced to death by the Equatorial Guinea court.

Du Toit is an alleged ringleader of a group of South Africans and Armenians facing charges of planning to topple the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

"Our constitution outlaws the death penalty and therefore our government will seek diplomatic intervention if the death penalty is handed down," said foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa.

He would not comment on the approach government would take in other cases where South Africans found themselves facing a death sentence in foreign countries.

more
http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1688558-6079-0,00.html

[emad]

6. Helicopter purchase, extradition, more on lawyer's statement:

Sir Mark's lawyer, Peter Hodes, told Sky News that his client had already been charged with an offence relating to "the purchase of a helicopter, and some connection with the Equatorial Guinea coup attempt".

Mr Hodes added that there was no question at this time of Sir Mark being extradited, and that his client had returned willingly to South Africa "despite the fact he knew the authorities were interested in talking to him".According to Mr Hodes, Sir Mark is due in court at around 3pm South African time (2pm BST) this afternoon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,13262,1290386,00.html

[seemslikeadream]

8. THE FLIGHT OF N4610

THE FLIGHT OF N4610

8/14/04--the botched march 7th coup attempt in equatorial guinea brings attention to the role played by big oil not just for the riggs bank probe but who bankrolled the mercenaries--

more
http://www.geocities.com/desertrecon/holmes.html