2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt the US of backing the plot, but the Pentagon denies supporting it. US officials say it was Greg Wales who made all the approaches to them. Greg Wales, a London-based property dealer, is alleged to have raised $500,000. Equatorial Guinea official sources claim that in November 2003 , when the plot was in its early stages, an Old Etonian mercenary, Simon Mann, paid Mr Wales about $8,000. Mr Wales denies any involvement in the coup. Theresa Whelan, a member of the Bush administration in charge of African affairs at the Pentagon, twice met a London-based businessman, Greg Wales, in Washington
Corruption in Equatorial Guinea country is small, and any institution, such as a church, "that the government perceives as sufficiently powerful is immediately co-opted" or "completely undermined." Also, there are no labor unions, and any meeting of over five people requires a government permit. When the African Football Confederation (CAF) awarded Equatorial Guinea the rights to host the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations tournament (AFCON), Alicante protested. "At a moment when Equatorial Guinea desperately needs to move from dictatorship to democracy and at a moment when we in Equatorial Guinea and beyond should be concerned with political and economic reforms that would transform the