Mann names Mark Thatcher as 'coup leader'

By Daniel Flynn, Reuters
Wednesday, 18 June 2008


Mark Thatcher was a leader of a 2004 coup plot in Equatorial Guinea that was backed by Spain and South Africa, the British mercenary Simon Mann told a court today.


Simon Mann, an Eton-educated former special forces officer, was giving testimony at his trial in Malabo about his role in the failed plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in the small, oil-rich West African nation.

Mann said Margaret Thatcher's son, who has denied knowing about the conspiracy, "was not just an investor".

"He came on board completely and became part of the management team," Mann said, adding that a London-based millionaire, Eli Calil, was "the boss" of the plot.

Mann also said the governments of Spain and South Africa knew about the conspiracy and approved of it going ahead.

Spain's Foreign Ministry quickly denied the allegation.

Mann was arrested in Zimbabwe in March 2004 with 70 mercenaries en route to Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony which Obiang has ruled since 1979.

On the first day of Mann's trial on Tuesday, the prosecution asked the court to jail him for nearly 32 years for his role in the coup plot, which he has admitted being part of. His defence lawyer said he was an "instrument", but not a ringleader.

Mann, 55, testified on Wednesday that by January 2004, the coup plot had become "like an official operation because the Spanish government and the South African government were both giving the green light".

"Their involvement was clandestine and they will never admit it," he told the court.

"We totally deny what Mr Mann says. We did not give the green light to any of this," a Spanish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Madrid.

Equatorial Guinea's Public Prosecutor Jose Olo Obono told Reuters the next step for the West African state's authorities would be to seek the extradition of Thatcher and Calil.

"I am very, very sorry for what I have done. I am also very happy that we failed ... I think that the people that were seriously involved in this and have not faced justice, they should do so," Mann told the court

Yesterday, the prosecutor asked for a cumulative jail term of 31 years and eight months for Mann on charges of crimes against the head of state, crimes against the government and crimes against the peace and independence of the state.

In today's testimony, Mann said the plotters had rushed to try to carry out the coup before March 14, 2004, the date of a general election in Spain which they feared would unseat the centre-right government and deprive them of the Spanish diplomatic backing he said they had been promised.

"Everything was in ... a big hurry, because we had this date of March 14, the Spanish election, which was coming closer and closer," Mann said.

Spain's centre-right government led by Jose Maria Aznar was defeated in the 2004 election by the Socialists.

Mann said Calil had told him the coup plotters had been promised immediate diplomatic recognition by Aznar's administration if they succeeded in replacing Obiang with Equatorial Guinea opposition figure Severo Moto.

Spain had also promised to send a contingent of Civil Guards, according to Calil, Mann said.

He added that an intelligence contact, Nick Morgan, who liaised with South Africa's intelligence services, had asked him to provide Moto's telephone number so that South African President Thabo Mbeki could call Moto if the coup succeeded.

Calil, who made his fortune in Nigeria's oil sector, denies any involvement in the Equatorial Guinea coup plot.

The court heard on Tuesday Mark Thatcher was accused of paying the equivalent of $300,000 to be used mainly to purchase a helicopter to transport Moto from exile in Spain to Malabo, once Obiang was overthrown.

The prosecution said Calil invested some $2 million in the coup attempt and was its main financier.

Thatcher, who was arrested in 2004 by South African police on suspicion of bankrolling the plot, said he thought he was financing the helicopter for an air ambulance service.

He was released after pleading guilty to breaking South Africa's anti-mercenary laws and he paid a fine.

Simon Mann names Sir Mark Thatcher as coup plotter

(STR/AP)
Simon Mann admits he was involved in the coup plot

Martin Fletcher in Malabo
Simon Mann, the Old Etonian mercenary, has placed Sir Mark Thatcher right at the heart of the plot to overthrow the President of the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea in 2004.

In electrifying testimony before a court in the tiny West African state today, Mann flatly contradicted Sir Mark’s insistence that he knew nothing about the attempted coup d’état and gave money unwittingly.

Mann said that he recruited the former Prime Minister’s son and took him to London to be vetted by Ely Calil, the Lebanese-Nigerian tycoon whom he identified as the “boss” of the whole operation. After that, he said, Sir Mark was “not just an investor. He came on board completely and became part of the management team”, attending many meetings. He named Sir Mark as one of five men “in charge of the operation”.

Sir Mark struck a plea bargain with South African prosecutors in 2005. He admitted paying $275,000 (£140,530) for a helicopter but claimed that he thought it was to be used as an air ambulance. He was fined £266,000, received a four-year suspended sentence, and now lives on an exclusive estate in Spain while Mann is in the infamous Black Beach jail in Malabo.

José Olo Obano, the Attorney-General of Equatorial Guinea, said that he would seek the extraditions of Sir Mark and Mr Calil. In March Mr Calil denied any link with the plot.

In four hours of testimony Mann also claimed that the attempted coup was in effect an “official operation” sanctioned by the Spanish and South African governments, and that even President Mbeki knew of it.

He said that the Pentagon, the CIA and the US oil companies who have invested heavily in Equatorial Guinea were sounded out, and all signalled that a “well-conducted change of government would be welcome”. However, he declined to implicate the British Government, saying he was “amazed” to learn later that it had been aware of the plot.

Mann spoke calmly, but it was the testimony of a man fighting to avoid three decades in an African prison. The former SAS officer lost his composure only when the judge asked whether a 30-year sentence was justified. “I don’t agree with that. No. Please,” he replied.

He ended his testimony with an abject apology, adding: “I’m also very happy that we failed . . . especially now that I am here and have met some of you. And I think that the people who were seriously involved and have not faced justice should do so.”

Mann — who stood to make at least $15 million (£7.7 million) if the coup succeeded — claimed that he agreed to remove President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, reputedly one of Africa’s most corrupt and brutal dictators, “for the money yes, but also because it was the right thing to do”.

He said that he rejected the idea of assassinating Mr Obiang, and that he and his 80 fellow mercenaries were to land in Malabo straight after a palace coup, merely to guard Severo Moto Tsa, the exiled opposition leader who would replace the ousted President.

“When we arrived we would not be shooting, we would be shaking hands,” he said. Plan B — taking Malabo by force — would only kick in if the palace coup failed. Even then there was no plan to “erase people”.

Mann said Mr Calil and Mr Moto repeatedly assured him that José Maria Aznar’s conservative Government in Spain was “100 per cent behind the coup”, would immediately recognise Mr Moto’s administration, and send Civil Guards to help to keep order.Spain denied this tonight.

Mr Mbeki’s spokesman also denied that the South African President or his Government knew of the plot.

The trial continues.

Spain and SA 'backed coup plot'

Spain and South Africa both "gave the green light" for a failed coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, a British mercenary has told a court in Malabo.

Simon Mann said it felt as though the coup attempt was an official operation.

He also said that Sir Mark Thatcher, son of UK former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was one of the plot's organisers.

But Mann said London-based millionaire Eli Calil was "the boss". He and Sir Mark have both denied plotting a coup.

Sir Mark was fined in 2005 and received a suspended sentence in South Africa for unknowingly helping to finance it.

But former SAS officer Mr Mann, 55, said Sir Mark was part of the "management team... not just an investor".

He was speaking on the second day of his trial, in which Equatorial Guinea prosecutors have called for him to serve 30 years in jail.

Election rush

If the plot had been successful, veteran Equatorial Guinea opposition leader Severo Moto, then based in Spain, would have become the new president, Mann told the court.

He said Sir Mark had agreed to send a helicopter to transport Mr Moto to the region. Sir Mark has said he believed the helicopter was to be used as an air ambulance.


Mann said the plot was rushed through before the 2004 general elections in Spain, in case the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was defeated, Reuters news agency reported.

A Spanish foreign ministry official has denied any involvement.

Mr Mann was arrested four years ago with 64 others in Zimbabwe when they landed in a plane from South Africa.

He served four years in prison there for trying to purchase weapons without a licence before being extradited to Equatorial Guinea earlier this year.

Mann and Sir Mark were neighbours in Cape Town.

The prosecution said they had agreed not to call for the death penalty as part of the deal to extradite him.

The trial is being held at a conference centre in the capital, Malabo, and began amid heavy security.

Journalists were allowed into the courtroom but made to leave mobile phones, cameras and even pens and notepads outside. News reports said that a verdict was expected by Thursday.

Eleven other men, including South African arms dealer Nick Du Toit, who testified that he was recruited by Mr Mann, are already serving sentences in Equatorial Guinea in connection with the coup attempt.

Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich former Spanish colony, has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang since he seized power from his uncle in 1979.

His government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses and of ruthlessly suppressing political opposition.

Transparency International has put the tiny nation on its list of top 10 corrupt states.