In a R3 million plea bargain agreement *1, British businessman Mark Thatcher has admitted financing a helicopter despite suspecting it would be used in the Equatorial Guinea coup bid.

Under the agreement, made an order of court by a Cape High Court judge on Thursday morning, Thatcher received a four-year suspended sentence in addition to the fine.

He was arrested at his home in Cape Town's upmarket suburb of Constantia in August last year, after the abortive coup attempt that saw his fellow Briton and friend, mercenary leader Simon Mann, arrested and jailed in Zimbabwe.

Addressing journalists outside the court after Thursday's brief hearing, Thatcher, 50, said: "The only thing I can say is that there is no price too high for me to pay to be reunited with my family, and I'm sure all of you who are husbands and fathers would agree with that."

His wife Diane and their children have reportedly been in the United States since his arrest and the surrender of his passport.

His mother, ailing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, had to travel to Cape Town at Christmas instead of his going to visit her in the United Kingdom.

According to his lawyers, he is now free to travel "and he looks forward to joining his family in the United States".

At the start of Thursday's hearing, in which Thatcher, wearing a blue blazer and toying with his habitual white worry beads sat in the dock, prosecutor Anton Ackerman thanked judge Abe Motala for dealing with the case during the court recess.

Ackerman said it was in the interests of justice that the case be disposed of expeditiously "one of the reasons being that the accused will assist the prosecution with further investigations in this matter".

Under the plea bargain, which Thatcher under questioning by Motala confirmed with a "Yes I do" and a series of "yups", he has undertaken to "continue to co-operate fully" with the National Prosecuting Authority investigation into South African involvement in the coup attempt.

"The parties further agree that a just and fair sentence, taking into account all the surrounding facts and circumstances, will be a fine of R3 million or in the event of non-payment thereof, five years' imprisonment, plus a further four years' imprisonment suspended for five years," the agreement reads.

Thatcher has three days to pay the money.

According to the agreement, Mann told Thatcher in November 2003 that he, Mann, was getting involved in a transport venture in West Africa and considering a mining transaction in Guinea Bissau.

Mann asked whether Thatcher could help him by chartering a Bell Jet Ranger III for this purpose, and Thatcher told Mann he would be interested in becoming involved.

In early December 2003 Thatcher became aware of two Alouette II helicopters for sale, and told Mann.

Mann asked Thatcher to contact Crause Steyl, who operated his own air ambulance company, and who, according to Mann, had the "necessary experience" to give advice.

Thatcher met Steyl -- who has since also been arrested by he Scorpions --at Lanseria airport, Johannesburg, where they discussed the Alouettes and other options that might be available.

Mann later told Thatcher he had been informed the Alouettes were not suitable, and that they had found an Alouette III that could be chartered for three months at about the same cost.

"At this stage, late December to early January 2004, the accused began to doubt Mann's true intentions and suspected that Mann might be planning to become involved in mercenary activity in the West African region.

"The accused began to suspect that the helicopter might in fact be intended for use in such mercenary activity.

"Despite his misgivings the accused decided to invest money in the charter of the helicopter. In fact Mann and Steyl did intend to use the helicopter in mercenary activity," read the plea bargain.

Shortly before January 9 2004, Thatcher was asked by Mann to pay a deposit of US20,000 to Steyl's company AAA Aviation to reserve the helicopter, which he did.

A second payment of US255,000 was made a week later.

After the funds were paid into the account, Steyl chartered a helicopter which was flown from East London to Walvis Bay, where it sat for three weeks.

It was flown back to South Africa without being used in any mercenary activity and remained in South Africa after its return from Namibia.

Thatcher's legal team said in a statement issued after the hearing: "It should be noted that Sir Mark was not charged with any involvement in the attempted coup d'etat in Equatorial Guinea.

"The plea bargain was entered into solely as a result of his financing of the charter of a helicopter in circumstances where he should have exercised more caution".

The statement said no further comment would be made by Thatcher or his legal team.

It also emerged from Thursday's agreement that Thatcher has lost the full US275,000 he laid out on the helicopter

Thatcher also faces charges in Equatorial Guinea, where eight South Africans were last year sentenced to lengthy jail terms for their part in the plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, dictator of Africa's third-largest oil producer for the past 25 years.

Officials there have said they will seek Thatcher's extradition from South Africa.

The Cape High Court late last year ordered Thatcher to answer questions submitted by Equatorial Guinea under oath in November, but that appearance was postponed to February 18 to give his lawyers a chance to appeal the ruling.

Thatcher was represented on Thursday by advocate Francois van Zyl, who is also acting for corruption accused Schabir Shaik. *1

Earlier, a spokesman for Margaret Thatcher's office said: "She is very relieved that matters have now been settled and that the worry of these last few months is now over."

With acknowledgements to Ben Maclennan and Sapa.

*1 The deal: Plead guilty to Count 3, don't challenge the admissibility of the encrypted fax (or any other evidence), co-operate with the DSO by telling them who the really big fish are, pay the R3 million fine within 3 days, get a 4-year suspended sentence to inhibit future temptations, make a further R3 million donation to the Rebuild South-East Asia Fund, get off Counts 1 and 2, wait 10 years for a Presidential Pardon, and have a happy crime-free life.

Otherwise there is a mandatory 15 year sentence for fraud involving an amount of over R500 000.

R500 000 per year x 2 years = 30 years.

Do the deal - Viva.