| -Caveat Lector-
In a message dated 8/26/2004 11:09:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om |
--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't FitReuters via Yahoo - August 25, 2004 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20040825/wl_nm/safrica_thatcher_dc S.Africa Police Arrest Thatcher Son in Coup Probe By Gordon Bell CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was arrested in South Africa on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in a mercenary plot against the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Mark Thatcher, 51, appeared in a Cape Town court which ordered him released under a series of strict conditions including the posting of a $300,000 bank guarantee and surrender of his passport. Thatcher, who was arrested early on Wednesday while still in his pajamas, was not asked to enter a formal plea to draft charges against him, which include violations of South Africa's strict anti-mercenary laws. But one of his lawyers denied that his client had done anything wrong. "Mr. Thatcher has been cooperating with the authorities since before today and he intends to continue cooperating," attorney Alan Bruce-Brand told reporters outside the court. "He effectively has been released on a warning ... but Mr. Thatcher denies any wrongdoing." South Africa's elite FBI (news - web sites)-style Scorpions unit swooped on Thatcher's luxury home in an upscale Cape Town suburb early on Wednesday, searching items including telephone records and computer hard-drives for evidence. "This man has a very serious case to answer in court," said Scorpions spokesman Makhosini Nkosi. "The Scorpions unit does not just arrest people unless there is a very strong case." Nkosi said his unit went into action following cooperation with their counterparts in Equatorial Guinea, where 14 foreigners are now being tried for the same coup plot. Another group of 70 men, including many South Africans and known Thatcher acquaintance Simon Mann, a former British special forces officer, is on trial on similar charges in Zimbabwe. Thatcher, a businessman, moved to Cape Town from the United States in the late 1990s. Thatcher, whose mother was British premier from 1979-90, became Sir Mark when he inherited a baronetcy upon the death of his father Denis last year. MERCENARY TRIALS Magistrate Awie Kotze ordered Thatcher to return to the Wynberg magistrate's court on Nov. 25, at which time formal charges could be laid. He must remain in his home, effectively under house arrest, until he pays the bank guarantee, and will be required to stay in the Cape Town area even after that. Thatcher, dressed in a dark suit and a blue tie, did not make any statement in court and did not speak to journalists. South African police said they were probing Thatcher on suspicion of involvement in what officials have called a plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer. "We have alleged that he (Thatcher) is a financier in that particular coup attempt ... we are looking for documents that are going to assist us in our investigation. We take this very seriously," said another Scorpion spokesman, Sipho Ngwema. Eighty four foreigners, mostly South Africans, have been put on trial simultaneously in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea in one of Africa's most spectacular mercenary cases for decades. A South African among the group on trial in Equatorial Guinea was recalled by judges on Wednesday and said he had discussed a business deal with Thatcher. Nick du Toit told the court he had been introduced to the British businessman by Mann. Mann was seized with more than 60 others in March when their plane landed in Harare. Officials said they were on their way to join co-conspirators in Equatorial Guinea. Scorpion spokesman Nkosi said he did not expect Thatcher to be extradited to Equatorial Guinea. "South Africa is opposed to the death penalty and we wouldn't extradite someone to a country where he would face the danger of the death penalty," he said. Thatcher was privately educated at Britain's elite Harrow School but with little academic success. He failed his accountancy examinations three times. * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================= www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
--- End Message ---
