Secret of Sir Mark Thatcher's riches: selling oil to Zimbabwe

[emad]

The Insight team


Sunday Times snip:
SIR MARK THATCHER has made millions of pounds from trading in diesel fuel and gold in Zimbabwe under the oppressive regime of President Robert Mugabe. The son of Baroness Thatcher, the former prime minister, he has taken advantage of lucrative concessions there. Sources close to Thatcher have confirmed that he has earned up to �6m a year in profit by selling South African diesel fuel across the border in Zimbabwe. He is also believed to have made large profits from a gold mill.

The disclosure of Thatcher�s investments follows his arrest in South Africa on charges of helping to finance a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. Simon Mann, the coup leader who is his close friend, was jailed last week for seven years. He had been arrested with more than 60 mercenaries in a plane at Harare airport. The ventures in Zimbabwe are now set to draw Thatcher into fresh controversy. A Zimbabwean police investigation has been launched into alleged gold smuggling at Redwork Mill which he co-owned with Graham Lorimer, his long-standing friend.

Lorimer said last week that Thatcher was no longer a partner in the mill, which is estimated to have made �1.2m a year. But he said that it would be unwise for Thatcher to return to Zimbabwe. Sources close to Thatcher have confirmed that he remains a director of Africa Super Fuels, a wholesale fuel depot in Beitbridge in Zimbabwe. One former worker at the depot said Thatcher buys diesel in South Africa for 0.90 rand a litre and sells it for about 3.70 rand. Staff say the depot sells between 1m and 2m litres a month.

Thatcher refused last week to comment on his interests in Zimbabwe but denied any wrongdoing.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1258376,00.html
(pay site)

[seemslikeadream]

1. plunge him into new controversy

Fed by a series of surrounding open-cast mines, the mill processes 13lb of gold a month, bringing in estimated profits of �1.2m per year.

He added that Thatcher had visited the mill several times and they had last seen him earlier this year. �When he came the last time, Mark said he had come to assure us that all would be okay and that he would come back and pay us. But he didn�t come,� he said. Dube confirmed that the mill had been confiscated by the local mining commissioner after Lorimer, in whose name it is registered, fled the country.

It is expected that the concession will be granted to its manager, a Zimbabwean national. Thatcher and Lorimer bought the mill from Mark Burden, a gold dealer, several years ago. Burden was at the centre of a Zimbabwean police investigation into the smuggling of millions of pounds of gold to South Africa.

But the mill was confiscated by the area�s mining commissioner four weeks ago after the Zimbabwean police�s �Gold Squad� began investigating it for alleged smuggling. Lorimer has fled the country and is resisting requests to return for questioning, fearing he will not be given a fair hearing.



The involvement in the mill and the revelations about the millions Thatcher is making from selling diesel under President Robert Mugabe�s oppressive regime will plunge him into new controversy.
more

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1257704_1...

[emad]

2. Rollercoaster career:

"He became a partner in Emergency Networks, a Texas-based firm that installed security alarms. But the venture collapsed in 1994, leaving a string of debts.

A year later he settled in Cape Town and started to pursue new ventures. One was a scheme to sell loans to the city�fs police officers. It became mired in scandal in the late 1990s when it emerged that he was hiring moonlighting police officers to act as debt collectors against their colleagues."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1257704_1...

[havocmom]

4. Suddenly the GOP idea of allowing foreign born to become US president

makes more sense. It's not Ahhhnold they are thinking about running. Thatcher sounds like the Right Wing's kind of guy.

[Ohio rules]

3. Remember the movie : "Wild Geese" ?

Last week,
wasn't there a plot stopped that tried to put back into power the exiled leader Zimbabwe ?

That movie popped into mind.Thats all

[legin]

5. Interesting you should bring that up

'The Wild Geese' was shown on BBC on Saturday night within a few days of the original coup attempt being exposed.

It was a little coincidental because these things have to be a scheduled in advance because of the TV listing magazines over here.

I think Mann did some cricket corespondant work for the BBC too.

My family think I'm a bit 'conspiracy theory' on this subject, but it has to be admited that there is just one film that captures this coup attempt to a 'T'.