Mandelson may face questioned on botched coup

Britain's European Union commissioner Peter Mandelson may be questioned by South African police over his knowledge of an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, it was claimed today.

Detectives investigating the plot are believed to want to contact the politician over claims that he discussed the British government’s attitude towards plans to overthrow the ruling regime in the west African state, according to reports in Sunday newspapers.

The EU external trade commissioner is not considered a suspect in the case and is understood to deny the claims that he twice spoke about the coup with Ely Calil, a Lebanese businessman alleged to have helped finance the action.

But Mr Mandelson’s spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville denied any link with the case, saying: “The UK government has made it absolutely clear that Peter Mandelson has no connection with this issue.”

It has also emerged the British Foreign Office was handed intelligence reports about the putsch in January, but did not inform authorities in Equatorial Guinea.

Former SAS officer Simon Mann has been jailed for his role in the plot to oust Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang and Mark Thatcher is alleged to have been involved in funding the operation, which was foiled in March.