‘Wonga Coup’ tycoon dies in freak fall
AN OIL baron said to have been at the centre of the infamous Wonga Coup in West Africa died in a freak accident at his mansion earlier this week.
Ely Calil, 72, was found after apparently falling down the stairs of the multimillion rand property in Holland Park, West London. A close friend said the tycoon “broke his neck”.
He is best known for being accused of plotting to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea in return for cash and oil rights – a conspiracy that also embroiled former British Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher’s son Mark, who lived in Cape Town at the time.
The Wonga Coup was led by British mercenaries but ended in disaster in 2004 when a Boeing packed with men and weapons was seized during a stop-off in Zimbabwe.
Former SAS officer Simon Mann, who led the mercenaries and served several years in African jails, said Calil betrayed him.
Scotland Yard said Calil was “pronounced dead at the scene”, and although his death was “unexplained” there were no suspicious circumstances.
His legal team confirmed Calil’s death but said his family, including third wife Renuka, 59, and five children, would not comment.
Mann said Calil had failed him over the failed coup. “He was the person who recruited me and failed to back me as he promised,” he said.
“He can’t sue me now. He was ultimately dishonest. He let me down. He promised many things and failed to deliver. Ultimately that led to the coup not working.
“He was an extraordinary guy. He was very charming, very clever but also devious and manipulative. There are a lot of stories about him.”
Calil was an aggressive litigant and his lawyers forced Mann to remove his name from his explosive memoir about the coup, which got its name from the “Wonga list” of alleged financial backers.
Born in Nigeria, but of Lebanese heritage and holding British citizenship, Calil built a reputed £100million (R1.6billion) empire.
He diversified from the family oil mill and groundnut business into property and finance while mixing with those at the heart of British Establishment.
Operating from a £12m Chelsea mansion, and with other properties in Switzerland and Nigeria, Calil was a friend of Jeffrey Archer for years.
He was invited to a Downing Street dinner hosted by the then prime minister Sir John Major’s wife, Norma. Calil was also a friend of former Blairite minister Lord Mandelson.
Despite his success, much of his business dealings remained shrouded in secrecy or overshadowed by controversy. In June 2002, he was questioned by French police over huge payments by a French oil company to a former Nigerian dictator.
Calil was accused of taking £40m in backhanders for “fixing” a giant contract for Elf in Nigeria. He denied wrongdoing, and was released.
He also denied involvement in the Wonga plot, despite being accused of helping to organise and fund it. Sir Mark Thatcher was also accused of being one of its financiers. – Daily Mail MADRID: Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez took over as Spain’s prime minister yesterday, after parliament toppled his predecessor Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote triggered by a corruption scandal involving his centre-right party.
Lawmakers stood and cheered as Sanchez – who had earlier promised to try to steer the country through to mid2020 when the parliamentary term ends – became the country’s seventh head of government since its return to democracy in the late 1970s.
But Rajoy’s departure after six years in office casts one of the euro zone’s top four economies into an uncertain political landscape.
Sanchez won yesterday’s no-confidence motion by 180 votes to 169, with one abstention. The 46-year-old’s Socialist party holds just 84 seats in the 350-member assembly, making it unclear how long his administration can last.
But his strong pro-european credentials, and the fact that Rajoy also ran a minority government, suggest fallout from any political ructions in one of the euro zone’s fast-growing economies is likely to be limited.
Spain’s stock market rose after the parliamentary vote, to trade nearly 2% higher on Thursday’s close, while the country’s borrowing costs fell.
“Sanchez has reiterated a commitment with European orthodoxy and budget control in Spain,” UBS analysts said.
With most other Spanish parties also pro-european in outlook, Sanchez has already committed to respecting a fiscally conservative budget that was passed by Rajoy.
The fragmented parliament means he will also find it hard to row back on structural reforms passed by his predecessor, including new labour laws and cuts in health care and education.
The outgoing premier conceded defeat prior to the no-confidence vote, congratulating Sanchez and telling deputies in a short, gracious speech: “It has been an honour to have left Spain in a better state than I found it.”
The 63-year-old stalwart of the centre-right People’s Party (PP) took over the government in 2011 in the middle of a deep recession and presided over a dramatic economic recovery.
However, his position had become increasingly untenable, undermined by scandals encircling his party as well as a divisive independence drive in the wealthy region of Catalonia, which led Madrid to impose direct rule on the region last year.
The no-confidence motion was brought by Sanchez after a judge sentenced dozens of people linked to the PP to decades in jail in a long-running corruption trial.
Two Catalan pro-independence parties backed the motion of no-confidence in Rajoy.
Sanchez, who is expected to be sworn in by Monday and appoint his cabinet next week, has promised to start talks with the Catalans but has said he will not give the region an independence referendum.
Catalan authorities yesterday announced their new cabinet, excluding four nominees under investigation for their part in its independence drive to pave the way for Madrid to end its direct rule.
German prosecutors made a court application for the extradition to Spain of the leader of the independence movement, former regional president Carles Puigdemont, on charges linked to his role in the campaign. – Reuters