The Wonga Coup (15 page)

There Thatcher ran a trading business, focused on finished
oil products, in part with Sasol, a big South African oil company. His expertise, he says, is in logistics. He struck up a friendship with Mann, the two sharing an enthusiasm for business all over Africa in mining, oil, security and aviation. Thatcher was well travelled. But where many outsiders fall in love with the continent, despite its manifold problems, he grew fiercely pessimistic about it. ‘Africa is dead, it's dying of cancer,' he concluded later. South Africa, his adopted home, he saw as having a dismal future. He blamed venal presidents for most of Africa's woes. ‘In Africa a corrupt politician is practically a sequitur.' Most decent investors were shy of the continent, he argued, because of instability and poor leadership. That left only exploiters, those keen to make a quick, unethical profit – as some are always willing to surrender morals for profits.

Mann was fond of Thatcher, but few others liked him. One plotter later concluded: ‘I put up with him, largely because I admired his mother. He put up with me because I was friends with Simon and he is an SAS groupie. He's a pain in the arse in large doses. He is heavily insecure, probably because he is the son of two bright parents … he is not the sharpest pebble on the beach.' Crause Steyl dealt with Thatcher but did not like him. ‘He was not the kind of personality I'd warm up to. I wasn't going to have tea with his mother. He's got lots of issues. I don't need any more issues in my life. The way he spoke to his driver, I didn't like that. Luckily, the only thing I had to take was his money.'

Thatcher, at least in early interviews for this book, made it clear he disliked the government of Equatorial Guinea and suggested outside powers had a duty to tackle the corruption and misrule there.

But he denies he ever supported a coup. Thatcher – when thinking hard he puffs out his cheeks and glares – doubts
that violent ‘third party intervention' would be right. He suggests a coup plot is little different from terrorism. ‘Bearing in mind my family has been subject to an actual terror attack in Brighton, I'd never knowingly be involved in something like that,' he explains. And he adds that coups do nothing to benefit ordinary folk. ‘It would have been bad because coup attempts only breed others.'

And yet, Thatcher was said to be eager to become involved in Mann's affair even while other plotters kept him at arm's length. Steyl says Thatcher ‘was keen to be part of the game. But Simon thought that could be a problem. He feared Mark's inferiority complex might lead to the British press having a field day.' Greg Wales, writing in his Bight of Benin Company document, warned that if Thatcher's involvement in the coup plot were known then the ‘rest of us, and project, likely to be screwed as a side issue to people screwing him. Would particularly add to a campaign, post-event, to remove us.' Short of excluding Thatcher from the scheme, Wales emphasised that his role should be kept hidden. There was no remedy if Thatcher's part were suspected, so ‘Ensure doesn't happen'.

And Mann was willing to involve Thatcher. The reason was simple, says Steyl. ‘The money. He brought us nearly $280,000.' Mann squeezed Thatcher for money, though he may have kept some of the details of the coup plot secret. The idea was to get Thatcher to fund a helicopter that would be used in the airport attack against Obiang. Steyl continues: ‘The only thing Mark actually did was lease a helicopter. Apart from that, nothing. We never discussed Equatorial Guinea with him. We said we wanted to take an airplane to west Africa. But it was clear to me he was suspicious.'

Thatcher was associated with the plotters from the early days of their operations. In June or July 2003 Thatcher met
Nick du Toit to talk about hiring a helicopter. Thatcher later told a court in South Africa:

The purpose of that meeting was to discuss with Nick du Toit the possibility and practicalities of the renovation of two civilian helicopters which Mr du Toit had for sale, or knew were for sale. The purpose was to express to Simon Mann my opinion whether renovation was economically viable. These helicopters were civilian helicopters. My recollection is that Simon Mann advised me their intended use was for support of a mining operation in Sudan.

Du Toit also recalled the meeting. He later told a BBC film crew:

I had a business in South Africa called Military Technical Services which is a middle man business between governments and military installations to sell arms and ammunition, mainly in Africa. He [Thatcher] approached me to find out if I can help him to buy helicopters and I had some helicopters available so we discussed helicopters … He told me that he wanted to use it in gold exploration in Sudan … Simon Mann introduced me to him and said that this guy wanted to buy helicopters and he knew that it was my line of business so he introduced him to me and we discussed helicopters … He's a very nice guy, straightforward, I didn't have a lot of dealings with him … I knew that he was in the arms business … He came to me with a request for helicopters and I could help him.

They met at an interesting moment. By June 2003 Mann said (in his disputed confession) he had already discussed
the coup plot with du Toit. Various documents – contracts between Mann and Moto, the proposal for ‘assisted regime change' – suggest active plotting had begun by mid year. Perhaps by now Mann had in mind the idea of using a helicopter for an airport attack. He chose this same moment to involve Thatcher in discussions about a helicopter, though supposedly for use in Sudan. For whatever reason, however, nothing came of the first meeting.

Instead, a few months later, Mann again asked Thatcher for help and advice on renting a helicopter. In November 2003, just as Mann signed the two investor agreements for projects in west Africa, he saw Thatcher again. The pair met in Cape Town. Thatcher later recalled that Mann said he was getting involved in a transport venture in west Africa, and possibly a mining deal in Guinea Bissau. Mann wanted Thatcher to help charter a helicopter. Thatcher agreed. They discussed types of helicopters and concluded that a Bell Jet Ranger III might be suitable.

Such is Thatcher's recollection of why Mann had first asked for his help. First, mid year, he had thought a helicopter would be used in Sudan (in east Africa) for a mining job. Then, by November, the story had changed. A helicopter would be needed in west Africa to transport executives or possibly for a mining job. Yet a third version was also put about. Ron Wheeldon, a friend, lawyer and an amateur pilot who likes to fly jet planes, says Thatcher explained the prospect to him.

I think he had no idea what was going on. He thought he was investing in an air ambulance to operate in west Africa, including Equatorial Guinea. Crause Steyl proposed to Mark Thatcher a workable project. You have to remember that both Mark and I know a man called Simon Everett in Kenya, he's
a mutual friend. Simon Everett runs an air ambulance in east Africa and does well. Crause Steyl came along and said, ‘There is no air ambulance in west Africa, I have the licences to operate a business there, but I need money to lease a helicopter.' The deal would have given Mark 60 per cent of the earnings. It would have been good business.

This third version of events – that the helicopter would be used as an air ambulance in a deal with Steyl – was current by December 2003. Crause Steyl became closely involved and suggested they rent an Alouette helicopter. Thatcher learned that a pair of Alouette II helicopters were for sale in Wellington, a town in South Africa. An Alouette is a French, jet-powered helicopter, made in the late 1950s. He called Steyl to discuss what he had found. The two men met at an airport, Lanseria, near Johannesburg in December. ‘[We] discusssed the cost options with reference to the Alouette II helicopters, as well as the other options that may be available,' Thatcher later testified. In one of the interviews for this book, Thatcher recalls the discussions: ‘The Alouette was to be used as a medi-evac aircraft. All have quick change capability. It can be converted into an executive's helicopter.' Might it also have been used as a gunship? He believes not. ‘But you can't just mount hard points. In order to have a pukka gun mount you need to fix a steel plate, a heavy plate, into the floor. You look at the huge mounting on the floor. And on a helicopter it's all about weight. Were such modifications to be made to this type of helicopter it would have been too heavy to be used for this purpose as it could not take off!'

Perhaps for this reason, Steyl and Mann turned down the helicopters that Thatcher had found. Mann phoned Thatcher to tell him so. But a later version of the Alouette, the Alouette III,
would be suitable, he said. The Alouette III is more powerful and can seat up to seven people, or take two stretchers inside – it was used by the Rhodesian and South African air forces in military operations. Later, in December, Mann told Thatcher he had found such a helicopter. It could be chartered for a three month period. Thatcher agreed to help fund it.

Cape Town is popular at Christmas. From mid December to mid January residents decamp from Johannesburg, Pretoria and other landlocked cities and head for the beaches, cafés and hotels of the ‘Mother City'. The southern hemisphere summer also lures foreign tourists. Most years Mark Thatcher threw a house party. He was not especially popular with his neighbours in Constantia, however. One man describes him as having ‘an ego the size of a herd of elephants and attention span of a gnat'. He was said to be rude to waiters, and imperious to everyone. His parties were well-attended, especially when – as became increasingly frequent after her husband died – Baroness Thatcher was present. But the neighbours and guests were hardly grateful: ‘If it wasn't for his mother, he'd be an East End barrow boy,' said one.

Greg Wales recalls leaving Johannesburg with Mann, shortly before Christmas, in a plane flown by Crause Steyl. They headed for Cape Town for Thatcher's party. Wales thought Steyl an exciting pilot. They flew first over Johannesburg, low over the city, well below the tops of the skyscrapers, he recalls, then on to Bethlehem, in the centre of South Africa, and through a narrow gorge in the Drakensberg mountains called the Golden Gate national park. Wales talks of his exhilaration as Steyl raced low inside the yellow stone canyon, twisting the plane sideways to bring them through. On arrival in Cape Town, Steyl, who had not been invited, amused himself while Mann and Wales attended Thatcher's elite party.

Other characters gathered that Christmas. Morgan was his guest recalled Thatcher: ‘I have known Mr Morgan for more than seven years. I have met him on numerous occasions. Indeed, he has stayed at my residence in Cape Town many times. Most recently in 2003/2004 as a house guest.' Their usual ‘topics of discussion were wideranging and included cigars'. A well-connected American lawyer and close friend of Mann's family, Rebecca Gaskin, also stayed at Thatcher's home at this time. She had worked in Congo, apparently for a bank, at the same time as Morgan. Wheeldon was at the party, too. He notes it was the last time he saw Mann, who was talking of a ‘mining adventure in South America'.

Although everyone else recalls the party, Thatcher himself, oddly, later denied he threw one that Christmas. He says that neither Mann nor Wales attended a Christmas party, though he did have a celebration on New Year's Eve. Mann was busy in his own large rented house, with sixteen guests, says Thatcher. None the less, several characters of the Wonga Coup did spend Christmas together in the Mother City just weeks before launching their plot.

Thatcher had contact with other interesting individuals. Ely Calil was not in Cape Town that month, but Thatcher met him earlier in 2003. He says he also attended lunch with Mann at Calil's home, but left soon after arriving. He was most interested in the décor of the millionaire's Chelsea home: ‘I met Calil only twice, firstly in 1979 as a guest in his house and again a second time in mid 2003, for only the second time in twenty years, for tea at his London house. I left soon after arriving. I just wanted to see the house again. He has supremely good taste.' In London Thatcher also knew Jeffrey Archer, the British novelist, and David Hart, a former adviser to his mother, who were both to be dragged into the story
later on. In Cape Town he knew David Tremain ‘distantly'. He had met James Kershaw several times, he admitted, though he called these meetings ‘brief encounters' and he did not consider Kershaw a friend.

As for du Toit, he was in South Africa that Christmas, but did not mix with the high society of Cape Town. In George, a coastal resort nearby, however, another meeting was held. Steyl later told investigators that: ‘On landing in Cape Town and moving on to George, I saw Mark Thatcher again for the second time very briefly. We flew across to George where we met Nick du Toit.' Steyl, Mann and du Toit went to a coffee shop in George, on 23 December, to discuss preparations for the coup. Du Toit warned that too many details were leaking. He had friends inside the South African Secret Service (SASS) who were telling him that his activities were under scrutiny. Johann Smith's intelligence reports warning of a coup in Equatorial Guinea were circulating faster than Christmas cards.

But du Toit's worries were pushed aside. There was some discussion that the base of operations might be moved from South Africa. The mood should have been upbeat. Mann later recalled that ‘At Christmas 2003 funds were made available to me to go ahead. $400,000 of this money was my own.' Perhaps the extra cash, partly, was courtesy of the two investor agreements signed in November between Logo Logistics (Mann's company) and a Swiss company and a Lebanese one. Thatcher had also promised to fund a helicopter. So, for now, money woes were eased. But time was short. The idea of launching a coup in late January was dropped, but a new target date of mid February looked possible.

Interviewed for this book, Thatcher suggests that even in January he still had no idea the helicopter he agreed to fund
was to be used for mercenary activity. He believed, he repeats, that it was intended for an air ambulance business, or possibly to move executives around in west Africa. Steyl operated an air ambulance company in South Africa. Thatcher noted that Steyl had ‘warranted as a pre-condition to the investment that he had licences to operate in west Africa as an air ambulance company when, in fact, he had none'. Thatcher later considered suing Steyl for this lie.