From Channel 4 News, UK, reported 7.45pm London time:
In an interview tonight with Channel 4's Sue Turton, Equitorial Guinea's Attorney General Jose Ole Obono tonight named the UK's former Northern Ireland Secretary - now UK European Union Commissioner responsible for trade - Peter Mandelson as knowing about the involvement of Sir Mark Thatcher in financing the plot to oust President Obiang.
Obono also told Channel 4 News that "the CIA and the State Department" were also aware of the situation which led to Simon Mann being jailed for 7 years and which sees Thatcher charged with financing and logistical planning if the coup.
No internet links to this story as yet which only went on air half an hour ago in the UK.
However, Obono's statement confirms what the Scotsman newspaper reported in August:
Affair throws up 'rogues gallery'
MARK Thatcher, Jeffrey Archer, Peter Mandelson - the list of names associated in some way in the tale of the alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea reads like a rogues gallery of public figures the public loves to hate.
Mr Mandelson probably has the least to worry about. His involvement is peripheral at best, though it does have echoes of his past mishaps.
The man who lost his place in the Cabinet in 1998 for failing to disclose that he used a loan from fellow minister Geoffrey Robinson to buy a flat in Notting Hill, London, turns out to have rented a £500,000 one-bedroom flat in nearby Holland Park from one Eli Calil, who is being sued for allegedly helping to fund the coup attempt.
The new Brussels trade commissioner has refused to talk about his relationship with Mr Calil, other than to say that he paid the proper rent personally for the flat and that he has no knowledge of any coup plot.
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=798&id=998952004