http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,15013,1292658,00.html
Mercenary Mann faces 10 years jail over coup attempt linked to Mark Thatcher Court clears 66 others of weapons offences Jamie Wilson, Paul Lashmar and Andrew Meldrum in Cape Town Saturday August 28, 2004 The Guardian Simon Mann, the leader of the failed Equatorial Guinea coup attempt that led to the arrest of Sir Mark Thatcher, was last night facing up to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of attempting to possess dangerous weapons by a court in Zimbabwe. The Old Etonian and former SAS officer, who was arrested on the tarmac at Harare airport in March along with a plane full of mercenaries while waiting for a delivery of weapons, will be sentenced next month. The latest twist in the saga comes at the end of an extraordinary week in which the attempted coup in a forgotten but oil rich corner of West Africa has sucked in several establishment figures and a rightwing coterie of businessmen, including Sir Mark, oil millionaire Ely Calil and Lord Archer. A magistrate sitting at a makeshift courthouse in the Harare maximum security Chikurubi prison, found 66 of the mercenaries, all travelling on South African passports, not guilty of the weapons offences. Charges had already been dropped against another three. Most of the men held in Zimbabwe had already pleaded guilty last month to lesser charges of violating Zimbabwe's immigration and civil aviation laws, carrying a maximum penalty of two years in jail and a fine. Prosecutors said Equatorial Guinea's Spanish-based opposition leader, Severo Moto, offered the group $1.8m and oil rights to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Mann admitted trying to order assault rifles, grenades, anti-tank rocket launchers and other weapons from Zimbabwe Defence Industries, but magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said prosecutors failed to prove their case against the 64 other men arrested when their ageing Boeing 727 landed at Harare International Airport on March 7, and two already in Zimbabwe with Mann at the time. He also acquitted Mann of an additional charge of taking possession of the weapons. The men, including Mann, maintain they were en route to jobs protecting a mining operation in wartorn eastern Congo. Fifteen other suspected mercenaries, including South African businessman Nick du Toit who has admitted to giving logistical support to the coup attempt, are on trial in Equatorial Guinea, Africa's third-largest oil producer. They face the death penalty if convicted. Yesterday Sir Mark, who denies any involvement in the coup attempt, remained under house arrest at his home in Constantia, the upmarket Cape Town suburb where Mann also has a home. Lady Thatcher's son was charged with helping to fund the coup attempt after a dawn raid by the Scorpions, an elite police squad which has been investigating links between Mann and several high profile businessmen. The former prime minister, surrounded by at least five armed bodyguards, refused to comment on the affair as she entered her central London home after flying in from the United States. But she is said to be distressed by her son's arrest. The South African government said yesterday it was considering a request from Equatorial Guinea for investigators to be allowed to travel to Cape Town to interview Sir Mark over the coup attempt. However there has been no request for extradition, something that is thought highly unlikely because the countries have no extradition treaty and because Equatorial Guinea practises the death penalty. The Scorpions, who arrested Sir Mark because they feared he was about to flee the country, are understood to be investigating the whereabouts of a private plane they believe he owned, as well as several trips he allegedly made to Zimbabwe. His spokesman in London, Lord Bell, said he been dragged into the Equatorial Guinea affair because of "guilt by association". "Mark Thatcher and Simon Mann were friends, nobody has ever denied that," he said. "But it doesn't follow that because you are friends with someone you are necessarily involved in what they are doing." Mann, who owns a large house on the banks of the Solent in Hamphire, is a scion of the Watney's brewing empire and went to Eton and Sandhurst before becoming an officer in the SAS. Part thrill-seeker, part businessman, he left the army in the early 1980s, moving into the security and mercenary business. He set up Executive Outcomes with the controversial entrepreneur Tony Buckingham, making a fortune protecting oil installations from rebels in Angola's civil war. In 1995 he became involved in an offshoot, Sandline International, with ex-Scots Guard Lt-Col Tim Spicer, and shipped arms to Sierra Leone in contravention of a UN embargo. A father of six - three with his present wife Amanda - Mann has been in solitary confinement in Chikurubi prison since his arrest in March. Bespectacled and clad in Zimbabwe's thin, prison-issue khaki shirt and shorts, he no longer appears the dashing man of action that his life story would suggest. His lawyers claim he has been tortured, assaulted by prison officers, suffered lice, inedible food and general deprivation. "Our situation is not good and it is very URGENT," Mann wrote to his wife and lawyers in a letter smuggled out of the jail but intercepted by South African intelligence at the end of March. "It may be that getting us out comes down to a large splodge of wonga! Of course investors did not think this would happen. Did !?" The letter then went on to refer to "Scratcher" - a nickname given to Mark Thatcher at Harrow because he had acne. Jeffrey Archer, the disgraced peer and former Tory deputy chairman, is alleged to have paid Mann £80,000, but he has denied knowledge of any coup plot. Yesterday friends of James Kershaw, the man named as the coup accountant who had allegedly handed the "Wonga list" - those who invested in the coup plot - over to the South African authorities, denied reports that he was in hiding under witness protection. They say he went to see the South African authorities shortly after the coup attempt and gave a detailed statement. Another businessman facing questions about his involvement in the coup plot is Nigel Morgan, a former guards officer and long standing friend of the Thatcher family, who was one of the addressees on the plea for help letter Mann wrote from his prison cell. Mr Morgan had employed Mr Kershaw as an IT expert and accountant at the Miba diamond mine in Congo where he was in charge of security until last year. Asked yesterday by the Guardian whether he was involved in the coup plot he said: "I am not going to comment. I don't think it will help Simon and I don't think it will help Mark." Asked whether, like Mr Kershaw, he had given evidence to the South African authorities he refused to comment saying: "The status of that is unclear." Timeline March 7 Zimbabwe seizes a US-registered cargo plane carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and military equipment. Simon Mann and five others are arrested on the tarmac March 8 Fifteen suspected mercenaries are arrested in Equatorial Guinea, including the alleged leader of the advanced party Nick du Toit. Most of the suspects in both groups are South African March 10 President Teodoro Obiang thanks South Africa and Angola for warning him of the plot and says it was funded by "enemy powers" and multinational companies operating within Equatorial Guinea March 16 Zimbabwe charges 70 suspected mercenaries with conspiring to murder President Obiang March 31 Mann writes a letter pleading with associates, including Sir Mark Thatcher, to get him out of prison July 27 Sixty-seven of the 70 suspected mercenaries plead guilty to lesser charges of violating Zimbabwe's immigration and civil aviation laws July 28 Mann pleads guilty to attempting to possess dangerous weapons August 23 Du Toit and 13 other suspected mercenaries go on trial in Equatorial Guinea. The 15th member of the group, a German, had died, allegedly under torture August 25 South African police arrest Sir Mark Thatcher on suspicion of involvement in the coup plot. He is charged with breaking the country's strict anti-mercenary laws August 27 Zimbabwe acquits 66 of the suspected mercenaries of weapons offences charges but finds Mann guilty of attempting to possess dangerous weapons. He faces up to 10 years in jail ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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