Secret files show Sir Mark Thatcher’s role in Wonga coup plot

The Scorpions an anti-corruption division were renowned for their fearless investigations of high-ranking officials and some of the countrys best-connected businessmen. Thatcher realised he was in a tight spot, facing the prospect of charges over his role in the botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea in March 2004.

It has now emerged that shortly after this airport encounter, he arranged a confidential meeting with a senior intelligence official in Pretoria on August 20. He was apparently ready to reveal what he knew about any coup plot to try to halt the Scorpions inquiries.

At first, it seemed his ploy had worked. The next day, he got a call and according to his own account he was told he had been accepted as a nominated SASS [South African Secret Service] source.

Four days later, Thatcher was arrested by the Scorpions at his suburban Cape Town home in an early morning raid. He was livid. The police and intelligence services just dont talk to each other, he complained bitterly.

Adam Roberts, author of The Wonga Coup, who has confirmed in interviews with Thatcher that he was accepted as a South African intelligence source, said: Thatcher felt he was very unfairly treated by the South Africans because he thought he had been accepted as an intelligence source. He felt he was singled out for harsh treatment while others got away more lightly.

Roberts said during the interviews, Thatcher had joked that if he published any unflattering comments, he would need a new dental surgeon. He also said that if he identified him with the Equatorial Guinea plot, he would end up as Mr Stumpy, walking around on stumps for legs.

Thatcher last week admitted to The Sunday Times that he had met a foreign affairs official to discuss the coup plot in August 2004, but said he never suspected the man worked for the SASS. He denies trying to strike any deal or offering his services as an informant. He claims that at that time he had no reason to fear that he risked prosecution.

I thought these guys were tough guys, one South African source said last week. Yet they were all squealing like canaries.They really rather let down the names of mercenaries.

In January 2005, Thatcher was fined the equivalent of 265,000 for breaking South Africas anti-mercenary laws by providing funds for a helicopter for the operation. Thatcher denied knowing about the plot, but was given a four-year suspended jail sentence in a plea bargain.

Last week Thatchers murky role in the Equatorial Guinea affair and his contact with South African intelligence services came back to haunt him. After more than five years in jail, his erstwhile friend Simon Mann, a mercenary involved in the attempted coup, was finally allowed to go home.

As Mann, 57, a former SAS officer, set foot on British soil on Wednesday, he looked in fine fettle for a man who had been incarcerated in Black Beach prison, one of the most notorious in Africa. While inside, he had enjoyed privileges, including fine rioja wines and steaks cooked at a nearby hotel.

By contrast, accounts started emerging yesterday of five fellow mercenaries in the same jail, who were captured in Equatorial Guinea in March 2004 after arriving in the country in a 19-strong advance party.

One of the captives, Gerhard Nershz, died after allegedly being tortured shortly after his capture in 2004. Another, Nick du Toit, who led the advance team, was allegedly hung from the ceiling by a meat hook and also given electric shocks.

Mann, in his mind, has long played out his release from the notorious prison, comparing it to a mountaineer miraculously surviving an avalanche. But he has darkly warned that those who abandoned him in adversity which may well include Thatcher should brace themselves for an ice axe between the eyes.

Manns release once again focuses attention on the coup plot and the exact roles of those said to be involved. The Eton-educated Mann has claimed Ely Calil, a wealthy Lebanese businessman, and Thatcher were key figures in the plot and should face justice. Both men strongly deny his allegations. British police are already investigating if any offences have been committed in Britain.

The Sunday Times has seen some of the key evidence amassed by the Equatorial Guinea government in its pursuit of Calil, Thatcher and other alleged conspirators, including bank records, an analysis of phone calls and intelligence reports.

The documents detail how plans to depose Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the president of Equatorial Guinea, were hatched in London and South Africa in early 2003. Equatorial Guinea was a prime target for mercenaries because of its rich oil and gas reserves.

From an early stage, the enterprise had been infiltrated by South African intelligence. Nigel Morgan, a bon viveur in Manns circle nicknamed Nosher or Captain Pig, was regularly passing reports to the secret services on the operation. He also planted a mole to work as one of Manns assistants.

A 33-page report written by Morgan and passed to the South African security service lays bare the plot, with its key figures, including Calil, Thatcher and Greg Wales, a former Arthur Andersen accountant and friend of Mann.

It says the plot was given the go-ahead after Mann met Severo Moto, the opposition leader of Equatorial Guinea living in exile in Madrid. Mann is said to have agreed to recruit a mercenary force in exchange for a 10m fee and a slice of the countrys future oil revenues.

According to the report, Mann had written a note identifying the figures who might provide funds. If you want more money go to Calil, Wales and Thatcher, he allegedly wrote.

The plot ended in disaster when Mann was arrested in Zimbabwe with about 60 other mercenaries as they waited for their aircraft to be loaded with 100,000 of weapons and equipment on March 7, 2004. Du Toits advance team in Equatorial Guinea was also captured.

Simon was quite unaware of the strategic implications of what he was getting involved in, said Morgan this weekend. He was busy stumbling around plotting, literally advertising his coup to the world like Bertie Woosters answer to a mercenary, and then was surprised when he got banged up.

Mann should have been aware he was a marked man in South Africa and that Pretoria would not stand by and let his coup proceed.

Morgan says Mann was specifically warned when he was given South African nationality about the risks of trying to plot any coup. He was even handed a copy of the countrys anti-mercenary laws, according to Morgan.

Another plank in the case against the alleged conspirators is the phone records obtained by the Equatorial Guinea authorities. An analysis of the phone records states: These records do support the notion that Calil is a primary mover and contacts only the next level of conspirator (Moto and Mann) while Wales is working with Mann.

Calil denies supporting any plans to remove the government of Equatorial Guinea by force. He has, however, said he supported Moto and was financing his plans to return to his country and peacefully form a new government.

Thatcher has also admitted visiting Calils London home with Mann while the plot was being put together. He says he was attending a dinner party and there was no discussion of any proposed coup.

The documents do not in themselves appear to provide enough evidence to pursue a prosecution. Last week, even Jose Olo Obono, Supreme Court chief justice of Equatorial Guinea, said it was Manns evidence that would be vital for any new convictions.

Wales, who had hoped to serve as a caretaker finance minister in Equatorial Guinea after a successful coup, said last week he did not believe there was a realistic chance of a successful case.

He said he had been involved in three months of negotiations with the Equatorial Guinea authorities that led to Manns release. If I was worried about a prosecution, why would I be trying to negotiate his release? he said. Its hard to see what British laws could be used in this case and who they would be used against.

Thatcher believes he has already been punished enough for an error of judgment. He now lives in Spain with his second wife, Sarah. He said he had no recollection of telling Roberts he had been accepted as a source for South African intelligence. He said he only met with a foreign affairs official to try to arrange a meeting with the Scorpions.

Like Mann, du Toit and three other mercenaries, Sergio Cardoso, Jose Domingos and George Alerson, were pardoned last week and released. They arrived in South Africa on Thursday night and were immediately whisked away by intelligence officers to be debriefed.

They disclosed that, for the first six months of their captivity, their hands were tied behind their backs and they had to eat their food from the floor. The marks carved in their wrists by the handcuffs were still visible. Du Toit told the intelligence officers that his handcuffs had to be broken from his wrists with a hammer and a chisel because they were so badly corroded from the blood that the key did not work.

While these men recover from the abuse they suffered, Mann will be able to recuperate at his 20-acre estate near the New Forest in Hampshire with his wife, Amanda, and young son, plotting his next move. Thatcher will be watching with great interest and some trepidation.

The Sunday Times (UK)