Mark Thatcher, who pleaded guilty in South Africa to charges linking him to a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, plans to move to Switzerland if he fails to obtain a United States visa, a report said on Wednesday.
The disgraced son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher would be joined in Switzerland by his wife Diana, who is currently waiting for him at her home in Dallas, The Times newspaper reported, without citing sources.
Thatcher, who is living with his mother in Britain while he waits to hear the outcome of his visa application to the United States, was keen to leave the country to escape possible further action over his part in the foiled coup, it said.
”If the application fails, Sir Mark has told friends that his choice is to move to Switzerland,” The Times reported.
The Thatchers, who lived there in the 1990s, have friends and business contacts in the tax haven, it added.
At the same time, Thatcher would need permission from the Swiss authorities to take up residency in the country and he would have to declare his finances.
The businessman, who had been living in South Africa, was arrested last August at his Cape Town villa on charges of helping to finance the suspected plot to overthrow longtime Equatorial Guinea leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema. – Sapa-AFP