Du Toit admits meeting Thatcher

2004-08-25 14:04

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.

Mann is alleged to have led a group of 70 suspected mercenaries who were arrested in Zimbabwe on March 7.

They have been accused of intending to join Du Toit and 13 other alleged foreign mercenaries in Equatorial Guinea to take part in the coup.

Thatcher, 51, was arrested during a pre-dawn raid Wednesday at his home in the Cape Town suburb of Constantia for violating the Foreign Military Assistance Act banning mercenary activities, said Sipho Ngwema, spokesperson for the Scorpions elite investigating unit.

"We have a serious case against him.

"We have found information that he funded the alleged coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea," Ngwema told AFP.

- AFP