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Mastermind of coup plot was Eli Calil. Put him in handcuffs and bring him here, says Mann
Valentine Low and Mark Blunden12 Mar 2008
One of the richest men in London was today fending off accusations that he was the mastermind behind a failed African coup.
Eli Calil, who has a personal fortune of £100 million, was named by Old Etonian mercenary Simon Mann as the mastermind behind the 2004 plot in Equatorial Guinea.
Speaking from prison in the oilrich African state, former SAS officer Mann admitted his own role in the conspiracy but claimed the backer of the ill-fated scheme was Mr Calil.
Mann, 55, said in an interview with Channel 4 television: "I was involved. I was, if you like, the manager - not the architect, and not the main man. Who was the main man? Eli Calil. If someone wants to do me a favour what they could do is put a pair of handcuffs on Calil, chuck him on a plane and bring him to Malabo."
Mann, who was in shackles and handcuffs as he spoke, also said that Mark Thatcher was "part of the team" but dismissed rumours that disgraced Tory peer Jeffrey Archer and EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson were involved.
He is being held in the infamous Black Beach jail in the capital Malabo, after being secretly extradited from Zimbabwe last month in what he called an "illegal violent abduction".
Mann, who until now has denied being part of a coup, is set to stand trial this week accused of plotting to oust Equatorial Guinea's president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Mr Calil, 62, has consistently denied being connected with the plot. He said in a statement: "I have a great deal of sympathy with Simon Mann's predicament. I am sure he is in considerable distress. He has made many contradictory statements. The only statement he has made freely was an affidavit in Zimbabwe in which he confirmed his original allegations about me were made under duress.
"That is the only statement of his which is reliable. I confirm that I had no involvement in or responsibility for the alleged coup. I am surprised that Channel 4 has allowed itself to be used as a propaganda tool for the government of Equatorial Guinea."
Admitting his role in the conspiracy, Mann told Channel 4: "It was a f***-up and I have to carry the can for that. I blame myself most for simply not saying 'cut' two months before we were arrested. That's what I should have done, and there I was bloody stupid. Mea culpa."
He added: "Here am I, accused of all these terrible thingswhen, in actual fact, nothing happened. There was no attempt. We didn't ever get any weapons. We didn't get on an aircraft to come here.
"Yes, certainly the intent was there and it was a f***-up, but now I'm kidnapped and then smuggled out of the country with violence in complete contravention to Zimbabwe's law. I'm actually a victim of a far more serious crime than any crime I've committed." Mr Calil, who has substantial oil interests in the Gulf of Benin, was first linked with the coup in 2004 after Equatorial Guinea claimed he was behind the plot to replace the president with Severo Moto, the head of a government in exile in Spain.
The Equatorial Guinea government alleges that he wanted to become chief oil broker for the country.
When Simon Mann was imprisoned in Zimbabwe after being arrested at Harare airport, he smuggled out a message demanding "a large splodge of wonga" from "Smelly", "Scratcher" and others to get him out.
"Scratcher" was Thatcher, and "Smelly" was Mr Calil. Thatcher was given a four-year suspended jail sentence in South Africa in 2005 after admitting paying £150,000 for a helicopter despite "suspecting" that mercenaries-might use it. Mr Calil, who was born in Nigeria to a Lebanese father but has British citizenship, has made the most of his fortune by trading in Nigerian oil.
He has homes in Switzerland and Nigeria as well as a flat behind the Science Museum in Kensington. He now lives in a £10 million rented house, raided earlier this month by burglars who burst in and terrorised Mr Calil and his three teenage daughters before escaping with only a few thousand pounds.
In 2003 his son George - an actor in Holby City - was arrested after his girlfriend and co-star Laura Sadler fell to her death from the balcony of his £500,000 flat in Holland Park after a cocaine and vodka binge. George, 33, was later released without charge.
