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My part in coup plot was Mann's fantasy says City businessman
Benedict Moore-Bridger, Evening Standard08.07.08
A London-based businessman accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea today denied any involvement as Simon Mann began a 34-year jail term.
Ely Calil admitted he supported "democratic change" in the African state but denied any deeper involvement. He also insisted Sir Mark Thatcher had nothing to do with the botched coup.
Former SAS soldier and Etonian Simon Mann was today beginning his lengthy prison sentence after admitting his part in the attempted regime change. Mann had labelled Calil a "cardinal of the plot" during his trial in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. He also named Baroness Thatcher's son as a financier of the alleged plot and a member of its " management team".
But Mr Calil, 64, told the Daily Telegraph he simply supported democratic regime change in the oil-rich west African nation, financing plans by Severo Moto - the exiled opposition leader living in Spain - to return to his country. He said Mann only had himself to blame for his predicament.
He said: "It was his lack of professionalism, his lack of discretion, his lack of judgment that caused this situation. There was no coup plot.
"There was a scheme to fly him [Mr Moto] back and to protect him while he was in the country. Severo's belief was that if he was protected in his home town and could remain alive for a few days a political storm would occur that would sweep away the present regime.
"I am not a coup planner. I don't have a talent in that sense. But yes, I financed Severo Moto's political activities and, yes, I introduced Simon Mann to him because of his background in security."
Speaking about Sir Mark, he said: "He was like a prize to Simon. They got drunk in South Africa together and who knows what they talked about - but he had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with a coup."
Mann, 55, was accused of masterminding an operation to oust President Obiang. He was originally arrested with around 70 other people, mostly former soldiers, when their aircraft arrived at an airport in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, in March 2004.
Giving his reaction to yesterday's verdict he told Channel 4 News: "Well, I'll just have to push it."
He said he did not know whether he would be able to appeal because he did not know "how it works here", and denied any knowledge of the possibility of a pardon from the President Obiang.
Speaking on the prospect of 34 years in the notoriously tough Black Beach prison, he said: "Well you know, if you've got to push it, you've got to push it. At least I know now I can push it after four years in Zimbabwe."
Mr Calil, furious that his name has been dragged into the saga, claimed that the plot detailed by Mann was "pure fantasy", concocted by Equatorial Guinean authorities for political purposes - with Mann reading from a script in an effort to reduce his sentence.
Despite admitting he would be in a position to benefit commercially if Mr Moto won power, he insisted there was no evidence to link him to any coup attempt.
He said: "It's a joke, the whole story has been tested in six jurisdictions and the only place it is taken seriously is in Equatorial Guinea. The only so-called evidence is Simon Mann's testimony.
"I want to set the record straight and move on with my life."
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