Thatcher in legal battle to block coup plot questioning

LAWYERS defending Mark Thatcher against charges he helped finance a coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea yesterday challenged the legality of a South African government subpoena to question him.

Thatcher, the 51-year-old businessman son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was subpoenaed after the South African government granted an Equatorial Guinea request to question him about the allegations.

His lawyers argued in a Cape Town court, however, that it was unconstitutional to subpoena him to respond to those questions while he has related South African charges pending.