Thatcher at court for questioning about coup plot, comments скачать в хорошем качестве

Thatcher at court for questioning about coup plot, comments

(18 Feb 2005) 1. Sir Mark Thatcher arriving at Magistrate''s Court, media follow him up the steps, Thatcher enters court building 2. Magistrate''s Court sign, pan to journalists outside court 3. Journalists outside court 4. Thatcher leaving court building, coming down steps SOUNDBITE: (English) Sir Mark Thatcher, Trial Witness: (Question: "How was that? It seemed pretty straightforward.") "Well, I''m glad that you make that interpretation. It''s a mystery to me why I should be required to give evidence as a witness in a trial which ended four months ago. However, I''m very happy to have had the opportunity to do so and do so under oath because, as you have observed from the answers to the question, it is patently clear that I had nothing to do with the financing of any coup in Equatorial Guinea." 5. Cutaway of South African flag 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sir Mark Thatcher, Trial Witness: (Question: "There''s speculation that you might be considering going to Switzerland.") "I think you''ve got it absolutely right: speculation." 7. Close up of court sign 8. Various of Thatcher leaving court, being pursued by media 9. Thatcher getting into his car and driving away STORYLINE: The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said again on Friday that he had nothing to do with an alleged botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. Sir Mark Thatcher answered a list of questions under oath on Friday submitted by prosecutors from the oil-rich West Africa state. He agreed to answer the questions as part of his plea bargain when he pleaded guilty last month to violating South Africa''s anti-mercenary laws. President Thodoro Obiang Nguema''s 25-year-old regime accuses Thatcher and other, mostly British, financiers of funding a plot to install an opposition leader as a puppet leader in Equatorial Guinea. "It is a mystery to me why I should give evidence in a trial that ended four months ago," Thatcher told reporters outside the courtroom, referring to the trial in Equatorial Guinea. "As you have observed from my answers to the questions it is patently clear that I had nothing to do with financing any coup in Equatorial Guinea," he said. He denied reports that he was planning to move to the United States or Switzerland and said he was again looking for a house in Cape Town. Thatcher admitted financing a helicopter, despite suspicions that it might be used for military purposes, in return for a four-year suspended sentence and three (m) million rand (506-thousand US dollars) fine on the South African charge. He initially contested the court order requiring that he answer Equatorial Guinea''s questions. But he dropped the challenge following the plea bargain, which allowed him to leave South Africa to join his mother in Britain. Thatcher told the court that he knew most of the alleged ringleaders named by Equatorial Guinea, but said he knew them mostly socially. He acknowledged that he had paid an aviation company to charter a helicopter but repeatedly stressed it was for civilian purposes only. He also said he did not know that it was for use in Equatorial Guinea and said that he understood only that it would be used in West Africa, without knowing the specific location. South African intelligence services exposed the alleged putsch in March, and scores of accused mercenaries were arrested in Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea authorities initially said they would be seeking Thatcher''s extradition. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...