EQUIPO NIZKOR |
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21Nov04
Thatcher loses bid to avoid questioning on E Guinea coup plot.
A South African court ruled that Mark Thatcher must answer questions under oath from Equatorial Guinea on an alleged coup plot that he is accused of bankrolling.
Cape High Court Judge Deon van Zyl upheld a decision by the South African justice ministry to allow questions from Malabo's prosecutors to be put to the son of the former British prime minister in open court.
"No case for relief has been made out," said Van Zyl.
Thatcher, 51, showed no emotion as the ruling was read out in the courtroom.
"It was a long judgement. The court did reaffirm our right to silence," he succintly told reporters after the ruling.
His lawyers had argued before the three-judge bench last month that the subpoena for Thatcher to answer the questions violated his constitutional right to remain silent.
But in his ruling, Van Zyl said he found "no basis for suggesting" that the justice ministry had "acted in an irrational, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable unlawful or unconstitutional way."
Thatcher's lawyers said they were studying the ruling to decide whether to appeal.
The son of Margaret Thatcher was subpoenaed in September to answer questions relating to his alleged role in a conspiracy to topple the president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. The questions were drafted by prosecutors in Malabo.
The 51-year-old businessman son of the former British prime minister was arrested on August 25 in Cape Town and charged with contributing 275,000 dollars (230,000 euros) to help finance the plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea for 25 years.
He is due to appear in court on Thursday to answer charges of violating South Africa's anti-mercenary law.
If convicted, Thatcher could face a fine or a jail sentence, or both.
His lawyers deny the charge and maintain that the funds were an investment in an air ambulance venture for west Africa.
But prosecutors in Equatorial Guinea allege the funds were used to purchase a helicopter that was to fly opposition leader Severo Moto, currently living in exile in Spain, from Mali to Malabo once Obiang had been deposed.
The Equatorial Guinean government in March announced the arrest in the capital Malabo of 15 suspected mercenaries that they said were the advance party for scores more who were arrested in Harare, led by Briton Simon Mann.
Mann, who was sentenced to seven years in prison on weapons charges related to the alleged coup plot, was Thatcher's neighbour in the upscale Cape Town suburb of Constantia.
Press reports earlier this month said that the British government knew of the plot to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea several weeks before it was thwarted in March.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted to the knowledge in answer to a question by a member of parliament, The Observer newspaper reported in London, adding that the government opened an investigation into the possible involvement of British companies in the planned putsch.
[Source: AFP, By Anna Zieminski Cape Town, 21Nov04]
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