A small aviation company based in the Free State town of Bethlehem has emerged as central to the arrest of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s son, Mark.
Mark Thatcher was arrested on Wednesday by the Scorpions for allegedly aiding the plot to overthrow the Equatorial Guinean government.
He faces charges under South Africa’s Foreign Military Assistance Act for allegedly bankrolling the coup attempt to the tune of $275 000 (about R1,7-million), according to the Scorpions.
No further information about the allegations against Thatcher was released when the controversial Briton appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. He was released on R2-million bail.
The Mail & Guardian can now reveal that a Free State-based company, Triple A Aviation, which trades as Air Ambulance Africa, is at the centre of the Thatcher saga.
Scorpions investigators believe Thatcher channelled funds to Simon Mann — Thatcher’s close friend and the alleged coup leader, currently in custody in Harare — through Air Ambulance Africa. In January the company signed a contract with Mann’s company Logo to provide aircraft and aviation services.
According to his lawyer, Peter Hodes, Thatcher was arrested on suspicion of providing funds for a helicopter linked to the coup plot.
Banking records show Air Ambulance Africa paid $100 000 into Logo’s account on March 2, days before the alleged coup attempt.
The head of Air Ambulance, Crause Steyl, this week refused to comment, saying: “Please don’t call me any more.”
Steyl’s brother, Neil, piloted the Boeing 727 that carried the 70 alleged mercenaries currently held in Zimbabwe on arms charges. Still in custody in Harare, Neil Steyl formerly worked as a pilot for South African mercenary outfit Executive Outcomes in the 1990s, in which Mann was also involved.
Sources close to the investigation say Air Ambulance Africa provided a twin-engine King Air turboprop aircraft, which flew the exiled Equatorial Guinean opposition leader, Severo Moto, from Spain to Bamako in Mali on the eve of the alleged coup bid, apparently in preparation for his return to power.
Friends of Thatcher, however, claim he entered into a completely separate contract with Air Ambulance to provide an ambulance helicopter for work in Equatorial Guinea. After his court appearance on Wednesday, Thatcher proclaimed his innocence.
But the Scorpions insist they have a strong case. On Thursday Scorpions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema confirmed Thatcher had been preparing to quit South Africa with his family, apparently for the United States, when he was arrested.
Ngwema said, when the Scorpions swooped on Thatcher’s estate in Constantia, Cape Town, shortly after 7am, they knew he had sold his luxury vehicles and put his house on the market in the preceding week. He had also allegedly reserved seats on a flight to the US on Monday for his wife, Diane, and their two children.
Ngwema confirmed the details about Thatcher’s house and travel arrangements. He also said that during the raid on Thatcher’s house the Scorpions had found “interesting things that would assist [the Scorpions’] case”.
According to Mann’s own statement, the alleged coup plot had its genesis in January 2003 when he was introduced to Ely Calil, a Chelsea-based businessman, in London. Calil is a friend and financier of Moto, leader of the Party for Progress of Equatorial Guinea and president of the government in exile in Madrid.
Calil has denied knowing of or involvement in the coup, and his lawyers have suggested that the confessions of Mann and his alleged co-conspirator, South African arms dealer Nick du Toit, currently on trial in Equatorial Guinea, were extracted through torture.
But Mann wrote in his signed statement after his arrest. “Ely Calil asked me if I would like to meet Severo Moto … I met Severo Moto in Madrid. He is clearly a good and honest man. He had studied for the priesthood … At this stage they asked me if I could help escort Severo Moto home at a given moment while simultaneously there would an uprising of both military and civilians against Obiang … I agreed to try and help the cause.”
Preparations for the coup were soon set in motion by Mann through two companies based in Guernsey — Logo and Systems Design.
Mann put in $400 000 to cover the cost of a specially converted Boeing 727 purchased a week before the alleged coup attempt from a firm in Kansas.
The M&G has established that the aircraft had been converted for US military use so that it could take off and land on shorter runways. It also had a pressurised cargo hold, which could be accessed during flight.
Final preparations were completed in February. Using his military and arms dealing contacts, Du Toit helped recruit the mercenaries — apartheid-era soldiers in South Africa — and introduced Mann to the head of the Zimbabwean Defence Industry in Harare.
The broad plan, according to Du Toit’s account, was for the plane to pick up the 64 mercenaries at Wonderboom airport near Pretoria and then fly to Polokwane airport to clear customs for Harare.
In Harare the plane would refuel and pick up arms — 150 hand grenades, 80 60mm mortar bombs, 100 RPG-7 anti-tank projectiles with 10 launchers, 20 light machine guns, 61 AK-47 assault rifles and 75 000 rounds of ammunition.
From there the plane should have flown straight to Malabo and landed at 2.30am on Monday March 8, with Mann in Harare keeping in touch with Du Toit in Malabo on his satellite phone. One mercenary team would secure the airport, while the rest were driven into town with guides and vehicles provided by Du Toit.
While separate teams set up road blocks to prevent the military leaving their bases and moving into town, another group would capture Antonio Javier — a minister and Du Toit’s business partner — who would guide them to the sleeping president. The president and his brother, Armagol, would then be taken to the airport and, “if not killed in this operation”, would be flown to Spain.
Meanwhile, Moto would have landed at Malabo airport, 30 minutes after the mercenaries. He would “call some supporters he claimed to have within the military and ask them to take control of the security situation”.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is visiting South Africa, said on Thursday that he supported the South African government’s stand against mercenary activities. “The South African police and legal system are independent and well respected,” Straw said. He added: “Nobody has a right to destablise … this continent.” – Additional reporting by Jamie Wilson, Paul Lashmar, Andrew Meldrum and David Pallister of The Guardian
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