"Prosecutor Links Thatcher to 'Chequebook Colonialists'"

Equatorial Guinea wants to question a number of prominent Britons, including the son of former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher, about allegations they financed a plot earlier this year to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled Africa’s third-largest oil producer for the past 25 years.

State prosecutor Michael Donen told the Cape Town court that the need to stop rich men and mercenaries from undermining the rule of law in Africa superseded Thatcher’s right to silence, which his lawyers say is vital to prevent him from incriminating himself.

"There is therefore a trend apparently in Equatorial Guinea ... in central Africa where chequebook colonialists hire small groups of former South African Defence Force people and they buy themselves a small African country which has oil," Donen said.

"We have a constitutional obligation to prevent this," he said.

Nineteen people are on trial in Equatorial Guinea, including Nick Du Toit, a South African arms dealer alleged to have led an advance team for the plot.

Full Article : scotsman.com