Editing Mark Thatcher (section)

==Business career==
During the mid to late 1980s, concerns were frequently expressed about possible conflicts of interest between his business interests and his mother's political visits. In 1984 his mother faced questions in the House of Commons about his involvement in representing the bid of Cementation, a British company and a subsidiary of [[Trafalgar House (company)|Trafalgar House]], to build a university in [[Oman]] at a time when the prime minister was urging Omanis to buy British.<ref name="profile"/>

He has denied claims that in 1985 he received millions of pounds in commissions in relation to the £45 billion [[Al-Yamamah arms deal]], a controversial arms sale by [[British Aerospace]] to Saudi Arabia; he has not denied that a house in [[Belgravia]], London, was purchased for him for £1 million in 1987 by an [[offshore company]] controlled by [[Wafic Saïd]], a middleman in the deal.<ref name=spotlight>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/apr/11/mark-thatcher|title=Mark Thatcher's return to the spotlight|work=The Guardian|date=11 April 2013|first=David|last=Leigh}}</ref> In 1986 his mother again faced questions in the House of Commons, this time over her son's relationship with the [[Sultan of Brunei]].<ref name="profile"/>

[[Sir Bernard Ingham]], the Prime Minister's press secretary, suggested that he could best help the government win the 1987 general election by leaving the country.<ref name=scratcher/> [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s biographer, [[David Cannadine]], stated that Mark Thatcher "traded shamelessly on his mother's name" and that he "continued to attract controversy and investigation from the tax authorities", much to his mother's embarrassment.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/106415|title=Thatcher [née Roberts], Margaret Hilda, Baroness Thatcher (1925–2013), prime minister|year=2017|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/106415|last1=Cannadine|first1=David}}</ref><ref name=spotlight/><ref name=GuardianProfile2004/> [[Alan Clark]] mentions the "Mark problem" in his published diaries.<ref name=scratcher>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/aug/26/uk.southafrica|title=Scratcher, the millionaire fixer|work=The Guardian|date=26 August 2004|first1=Kevin|last1=Maguire|first2=Michael|last2=White}}</ref> He moved to Texas, where he worked for [[David Wickins]] of [[Lotus Cars]] and [[British Car Auctions]] and met his first wife in 1987.<ref name="profile"/><ref name=scratcher/>

In the United States he started Monteagle Marketing, a profitable company that sold [[whisky]] and clothing.<ref name=GuardianProfile2004>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/aug/25/politicalnews.uk|title=Profile: Sir Mark Thatcher|work=[[The Guardian]] |first=Matthew|last=Tempest|date=25 August 2004}}</ref> During this period he spent some time in Switzerland as a [[tax exile]], until he was forced to leave after the Swiss authorities began to question his residency qualifications.<ref name=scratcher/> A security alarm business he ran in the United States failed and in 1996 he was prosecuted for [[tax evasion]], at which point he moved to [[Constantia, Cape Town|Constantia]], South Africa, with his wife and their two children.<ref name=spotlight/><ref name=GuardianProfile2004/>

In 1998 South African authorities investigated a company owned by Thatcher for allegedly running [[loan shark]] operations. According to the ''Star of Johannesburg'', the company had offered unofficial small loans to hundreds of police officers, military personnel and civil servants, and then pursued them with debt collectors.<ref name="profile"/> He claimed that officers had defrauded him and charges were dropped.<ref name=scratcher/> It was also suggested that he had profited from contracts to supply [[aviation fuel]] in various African countries.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/1470272/Richest-member-of-a-famous-family-and-its-most-accident-prone.html|title=Richest member of a famous family and its most accident-prone|work=The Telegraph |first1=Ben|last1=Fenton|first2=Christopher|last2=Munnion|date=26 August 2004}}</ref> In 2003, following the death of his father, he was allowed to use the title of 'Sir'<!--he had been "Honourable" since his mother's ennoblement in 1992--> due to his inheritance of the [[Thatcher baronetcy]] a year before he was arrested in South Africa in connection with the [[2004 Equatorial Guinea coup attempt]]. He pleaded guilty to breaking anti-mercenary legislation in January 2005.<ref name="guilty plea"/> At this time ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' suggested that he had personal assets of £60&nbsp;million, most of which was in [[offshore accounts]].<ref name="profile">{{cite news|title=Profile: Mark Thatcher|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3597196.stm|access-date=22 August 2007|publisher=BBC News|date=26 August 2004}}</ref>

In 2016 historic documents relating to Thatcher and Oman, expected to be released under the [[30-year rule]], were retained by the Government. ''The Guardian'' noted that the decision was made by [[John Whittingdale]], a former political secretary to Margaret Thatcher.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/jul/21/why-should-files-on-mark-thatcher-and-profumo-remain-secret|title=Why should files on Mark Thatcher (and Profumo) remain secret?|work=The Guardian|author=Roy Greenslade|date=21 July 2016|access-date=22 July 2016}}</ref>