Mark Thatcher 'plea deal' over coup plot

Margaret Thatcher's son Mark, accused of bankrolling a coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, is expected to appear in a South African court today amid reports of a plea-bargain deal.

Sources said he was to pay a fine of €428,000 – 3,000,000 SA Rand – and plead guilty to a charge of contravening Section Two of the regulations of the Foreign Military Assistance Act.

If he fails to pay, he faces a five-year jail term.

The plea bargain deal is expected to be ratified at a court in South Africa this morning.

Thatcher, who has lived in South Africa since 1995, is said to be relieved at the prospect of the deal, which will take place at the High Court in Cape Town.

A source said: “The charges he has pleaded to do not include anything connected with an attempted coup.

“Section 2 is to do with acting recklessly over information. He financed the hiring of the helicopter, to be used as an air ambulance, began to suspect it would be used for another purpose, and he never informed authorities.”

A spokesman for Margaret Thatcher’s office said: “She is very relieved that matters have now been settled and that the worry of these last few months is now over.”

It is understood that Thatcher will be leaving South Africa after the hearing.

Thatcher was arrested at his suburban Cape Town home on August 25 and charged with breaking the country’s anti-mercenary laws.

He also faces charges in Equatorial Guinea, which say that he and other, mainly British, financiers commissioned the bid to overthrow the 25-year regime of President Teodoro Obiang.

Plotters were said to have worked with the tiny country’s opposition figures, scores of African mercenaries and six Armenian pilots in the takeover attempt foiled in March. They had intended to install an opposition politician as the figurehead leader of Africa’s third largest oil producer, prosecutors said.

Thatcher – charged in South Africa in connection with the alleged conspiracy - and all others, deny any involvement.