Mark Thatcher originally denied he was a key figure in the funding of a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, has made a deal with the High Court
in Cape Town to pay a fine of $3 million rand ($501,700), 5 year suspended sentence and will be allowed to leave South Africa sources say. The Court
will here his plea bargain tomorrow (Thursday). Thatcher had been arrested on Aug. 25 last year on suspicion of violating South Africa’s
anti-mercenary laws.
story.news.yahoo.com Mark Thatcher Agrees To Bargain In Coup Case
By Gordon Bell
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Mark Thatcher, who denies funding a foiled coup in Africa, has agreed a plea bargain with a South African court in return for a
lighter sentence, a family source said on Wednesday.
The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was arrested in August on charges of backing an attempt to overthrow oil-rich Equatorial
Guinea's government "If the court accepts the plea bargain, he'll pay a 3 million rand ($501,700) fine," the source added. A South African
prosecution official told Reuters Thatcher would appear in the Cape Town High Court on Thursday, but declined to give details of the nature of the
hearing. "I can confirm that we're going to court tomorrow at 10 a.m. (0300 EST) at the Cape Town High Court," Sipho Ngwema, a senior prosecution
official told Reuters.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
So Mark Thatcher will walk, while the state prosecutor Jose Olo Obono is calling for seven South Africans to be given sentences of 86 years each and
26 years for six Armenians. That’s justice for you and from what I have read it appears it may be over oil.
It is about oil. Mark thought he could provide the funds to a group of mercenaries to overthrow the govt. of Equitorial gueini and reaps some silent
profits. But his mercenaries got caught on the runway with a plane load of weapons that just wouldn't pass the big-white-hunter test, and after a
little torture mark was implicated.