SAS man says Mark Thatcher was involved in Guinea coup
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2008 09:34
Former SAS officer accused of plotting coup in Equatorial Guinea says Sir Mark Thatcher was involved in plan.
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The former SAS officer accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea says Sir Mark Thatcher was involved in the plan.
Simon Mann was arrested along with 67 others in Harare,
Zimbabwe, in March 2004, charged with conspiring to depose the government of president Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
And while he has admitted to 'managing' the attempted coup, he claims the plans were instigated by British businessman Ely Calill, who has previously denied any involvement.
And according to Mr Mann, one of his co-accused, Sir Mark Thatcher, was "part of the team".
Sir Mark, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was fined and received a suspended sentence for his involvement in the affair after pleading guilty to "unwitting" implication.
But speaking to Channel 4 news, Mr Mann denied reports that Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare and Peter Mandelson had any connection to the coup attempt.
"They've got none at all. God knows where that came from," he said.
The 55-year-old Old Etonian, who has been handcuffed and consigned to the Black Beach jail in Equatorial Guinea's capital Malabo, went on: "If you want to believe the whole thing was a swashbuckling f***-up, well it is because it failed.
"I was, if you like, the manager. Below me were a number of people. Above me in the machine were other people."
Mr Mann is to face a trial in Equatorial Guinea for his part in what the country's government have called an "abortive mercenary coup attempt ... in 2004".
In February, it labelled him the "perpetrator of the operation that aimed to destabilise Equatorial Guinea through violence and terror" and stressed he would receive a "fair trial, with due process and institutional guarantees".