2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt five calls to Sir Mark Thatcher in the days after the failed coup. On 13 January 2005, Mark Thatcher, in a South African court, pleaded guilty to helping finance a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. South African police were able to prove that Mr Thatcher had transferred about US$285,000 to the mercenaries that were to execute the operation and had met and talked frequently to them prior to the coup attempt. After pleading guilty, he was given a four-year suspended sentence and a fine of about US$560,000. Simon Mann paid $500,000 (£281,000) towards the plot, according to a list of
Corruption in Equatorial Guinea been used to buy luxury homes and chalets primarily in Madrid and the Canary Islands. Italian officials also stated that an Italian businessman who was in business with Teodorin Obiang had died in a plane crash in Equatorial Guinea that had suspicious circumstances. To counteract reporting about corruption in Equatorial Guinea, Obiang retains U.S. lobbyists and PR experts, notably Lanny Davis, former counsel to U.S. President Bill Clinton. As of 2011, Davis was earning $1 million a year from Obiang. Corruption in Equatorial Guinea Corruption in Equatorial Guinea is high by world standards and considered among the worst of any