Thatcher stands £165,000 bail for son Mark

[emad]

Times snip:
By Andrew Pierce

BARONESS THATCHER has come to the rescue of her son, Sir Mark, by agreeing to pay the £165,000 bail required to release him from house arrest in Cape Town. The Times has learnt that the former Prime Minister agreed to help after a telephone conversation on her return to Britain on Friday from holiday in the US. The money will be paid within 36 hours.

The revelation that Sir Mark, 51, requires financial assistance explains why he is still under house arrest. His wealth has been estimated at £60 million but friends maintain that this is exaggerated. Lady Thatcher, 78, earned millions from her memoirs.


In May, Sir Denis Thatcher’s £1.3 million will showed that he had left £255,000 to be split between Sir Mark and his twin sister, Carol, the maximum before inheritance tax.

Sir Mark faces up to 15 years’ jail after being accused of helping Simon Mann, an Old Etonian mercenary, in a plot to topple the Government of Equatorial Guinea. Sir Mark’s wife, Diane, 45, and their two children landed at Gatwick yesterday and travelled to Heathrow for a flight to Dallas, where their children, Michael, 15, and Amanda, 11, have been enrolled at school. Contrary to some reports, they never planned to visit Lady Thatcher because they wanted to avoid a media scrum.
More:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1241911,00.html

[jmcgowanjm]

1. The Great Historical Genetic Consistency

That so often "World Leaders" spawn such incompetent
misfits.

[daleo]

2. This shows how meaningless titles can be

"Baroness Thatcher" and "Sir Mark" - cringe inducing.

[DulceDecorum]

4. Smelly and Scratcher make Wonga List.

I did not make it up.

Speaking by phone from the rural Free State, Morgan said that, whatever the letter said about Smelly and Scratcher, Thatcher was only "peripherally involved" in the matter.
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2004/08/29/news/news01.asp

It would appear that Mark Thatcher is Scratcher
and Nigel Morgan is Smelly.

Morgan said Kershaw had little to do with any coup plot and dismissed out of hand reports in the British press that Kershaw was possession of the mysterious "Wonga List", supposedly a document disclosing the identities of rich and influential British public figures (such as Thatcher) who bankrolled the alleged coup attempt.
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2004/08/29/news/news01.asp

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. 'Smelly' is thought to be Ely Calil

in most reports - oil trader and business associate of Jeffery Archer.

I wouldn't have thought it was Morgan - that report says the letter was addressed to Morgan, among others, but it criticised 'Smelly'.

"South African colleagues of Mr Mann have confirmed that Scratcher is Mark Thatcher, and Smelly is Mr Calil."
http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=555145&host=3&dir=69

[sattahipdeep]

3. Kershaw Morgan Griebenow the mysterious "Wonga List"

Morgan said Kershaw, who worked for Mann from January until the arrests
in Zimbabwe, was "totally out of his depth". "He only realised what was
going on when he got that call at 12.15am about the arrests.

He has now been officially designated as a state witness."


Morgan denied Kershaw was on the run or had gone into hiding.

"You can tell Nigel Morgan from me, on the record, that
he can f*** off," Griebenow said from Johannesburg International
Airport, having just arrived from Zimbabwe with Harry Carlse and
Lourens Horn, two of the men acquitted on Friday of being part of
the coup plot.

http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2004/08/29/news/news01.asp

[seemslikeadream]

5. Taki Theodoracopulos, now there's a fun guy

front Lourens Horne and Harry Carlse



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?story=555542

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?story=555541