Calls link Thatcher to EG plot
2004-10-13 09:54
Pretoria - A list of telephone calls, which shows several conversations between the alleged plotters of the failed coup in Equatorial Guinea (EG), has linked the different role players with each other for the first time.
Previously, several of them denied ever having had direct contact with each other.
Reports in the Evening Standard in London however reported "proof" of conversations between Ely Calil (the alleged mastermind behind the coup), sir Mark Thatcher, Simon Mann (who is serving a prison term in Zimbabwe) and Severo Moto (ousted EG political leader who was allegedly set to take over the country after the coup).
Until now, Calil has denied having had anything to do with the coup. Lord Jeffrey Archer, former Tory leader, was apparently also in contact with the role players on a regular basis.
This new evidence will apparently be used by British authorities when questioning the British suspects.
Thatcher's name and telephone numbers, as one of the alleged key players, came up in several of the new documents.
Archer was apparently phoned from Calil's number on a number of occasions on January 3 this year - the date on which Mann and the other men involved met in a hotel in Johannesburg to hatch their plans.
Shortly after Mann and 69 South Africans were arrested in Zimbabwe on March 7, the frequency of the calls increased.
The reports claimed that Thatcher, who has thus far admitted only to investing money in an air-ambulance firm in Africa, invested at least R3m in two helicopters that were supposed to be used in the coup.
He apparently hoped to make millions from this "investment" once a new government in EG would gain access to oil profits.
Nick du Toit, who is facing the death penalty in EG because of his involvement in these plans, reportedly said Mann had betrayed him.
Mann apparently gave a list of names of all those involved to the Zimbabwean authorities shortly after his arrest in that country.