MI6 chief’s nephew was partner of coup leader
Nicholas Rufford
A CLOSE relative of a former head of MI6 has emerged as having business links with Simon Mann, the former SAS officer involved in the plot to overthrow the head of an oil-rich African state.
Justin Longley, the nephew of Sir Richard Dearlove — chief of MI6 at the time the coup attempt was staged last March — was a friend and associate of Mann, the Eton-educated former soldier jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe last Friday.
Longley was working closely with Mann on goldmining, forestry and engineering ventures in Africa. He visited the continent as a representative of Logo Logistics, the company through which Mann later financed the attempt in March to overthrow Teodoro Obiang Nguema, president of Equatorial Guinea.
One mining venture in Sudan also involved Sir Mark Thatcher, who was arrested last month by South African police and accused of being among the backers of the coup.
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As well as Dearlove, Longley had uncles from both sides of his family in MI6. His mother was headmistress of Roedean, the girls’ public school. He also had connections with other members of the coup conspiracy. He was a close contact of Greg Wales, who allegedly helped plan the mission.
Longley is said to have regarded Wales as a “spook” and described him to an acquaintance as a man with influential connections in Washington who “worked for the CIA and the commercial wing of the Republican party”. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1268917,00.html