Coup plot Thatcher grounded in Germany after US visa expires

[emad]

SNIP from Times story:

A prodigal son or a figure of fun? Texan elite awaits return of Sir Mark Thatcher
From Chris Ayres in Rockwall, Texas



THERE is a sense of excitement in Rockwall, the pristine Dallas suburb on the shore of Lake Ray Hubbard, where Sir Mark Thatcher — if he ever gets out of Frankfurt airport — will be heading this weekend.
Not because of his return, but because of the annual Daddy/Daughter Ball, tickets for which have just gone on sale. Newspaper advertisements for the event tell fathers: “Don’t miss your chance to dance the night away with that special little lady in your life!”

For Ted Burgdorf, a multimillionaire car dealer who lives in Chandler’s Landing, a “gated community” in Rockwall protected by uniformed sentries, the ball may be his only chance to console his daughter, Diane, 45, who is also Thatcher’s wife of 18 years.

Thatcher, 51, is grounded in Germany after discovering that his US visa has expired. He had not noticed before because his passport had been confiscated by the South African authorities in August and was returned to him only at the end of his court hearing on Thursday.

He promptly flew to Frankfurt to pick up a connecting flight to Dallas, and is in talks with his solicitors to try to establish whether to apply for a temporary or multi-entry visa to speed his entry into the United States. He will have to appear in person at an American consulate or embassy and the negotiations could last for up to a week.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1440997,00.html

[emad]

1. Texas background: (Dept of Homeland Security please note)

"In Dallas Thatcher promoted Lotus sports cars and founded an “investment bank” called Grantham, named after his mother’s birthplace. Soon afterward, he met his future wife at a social event. They ended up moving into a $600,000 mock-Georgian home in Highland Park, one of the city’s richest suburbs. ..........

By the mid-1990s, however, Thatcher’s Arthur Daley streak had landed him in trouble again. He ended up settling racketeering and fraud allegations over his role in the acquisition of Ameristar, an aviation fuels company. The company later filed for bankruptcy. Thatcher was also investigated by the Internal Revenue Service over alleged evasion of millions of dollars in taxes. Court documents accused Emergency Networks, which sold burglar and fire alarms, of deducting tax from employees, then failing to hand the money over to the Government.

The Justice Department said that Thatcher and four directors of the company had “wilfully failed to collect, truthfully account for or pay over taxes or, alternatively, wilfully attempted in some manner to evade or defeat such taxes or payment thereof”.

As if that was not enough, Thatcher was also investigated by US Customs as part of an inquiry into the illegal export of military equipment to Iraq and Libya through two of his companies, Grantham and Ameristar. Some speculated that he was frustrated at not being able to compete with the wealth of his Texan neighours. "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1440997,00.html

[acmavm]

2. Hey, with all this baggage one would think the 'law and order' crowd

at Justice would promptly and permanently deny this guy entry to the country, period. Simply speaking, Mark Thatcher IS A TERRORIST who plead guilty (even tho'he has a thousand excuses for why he's not) of being a participant in a coup to bring down a foreign government.

[ashiebr]

3. Mrs Thatch will make a call.....

...and all the baby Thatch problems will disappear as if by magic.

[asjr]

4. If Burgdorf is a Repub contributor to this

administration, you can count on it.

[gratuitous]

5. Why would the Bush administration give a visa to a terrorist?

Boggles the imagination. And you can bet that trying to sneak this explosive story past the liberal media will be like trying to sneak sunrise past a rooster.

Boyohboy, the fit is really going to hit the shan, boy!

Okay, sarcasm off.

[emad]

6. They let in Poodle's wife Cherry....NO Problem for Thatcher either

Bet they didn't fingerprint her and will let him sail through the VIP lounge.....

Maybe even invite him to the inauguration in DC on Thursday.....

[gandalf]

8. Right, normally they give them only to Saudi terrorists

but not to British ones.

[emad]

7. US Immigration to be lenient?

It is by no means certain that the US immigration authorities will agree that Thatcher can enter the country after his plea bargain in the Cape Town court resulted in a £275,000 fine for helping unwittingly to bankroll a botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. The US authorities are traditionally reluctant to admit convicted felons, although the fact that his wife is American and that their two children Michael, 15, and Amanda, 11, are at school in Dallas will weigh in his favour.

If and when Thatcher gains entry to Dallas — possibly as a tourist without a visa — he will spend up to two weeks there trying to work out his next move. But it is unlikely that he will spend the time with his wife since she may be unlikely to want to socialise with her husband after his arrest on August 25 in South Africa for violating the Foreign Military Assistance Act.

Ms Burgdorf returned to Dallas with their two children soon after Thatcher’s arrest and, according to rumours, flew out to visit him only once when he was on bail.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1440997,00.html