By Fred Bridgland

Simon Mann, the former Scots Guards and SAS officer on trial in Equatorial Guinea for trying to overthrow its dictator, will tomorrow know his fate.

Those who have followed the extraordinary events of the so-called Wonga Coup over the past four years believe the three judges will sentence Mann, 55, to 32 years in jail. Realistically, however, the mercenary leader, who has informed on others involved in the plot to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, will probably soon be transferred to Britain to serve a short sentence.

Attorney general José Olo Obono, has admitted visiting Mann in Zimbabwe's Chikurubi prison, from where the Briton was extradited to Equatorial Guinea in February, and offering him a deal which involved naming the financiers of the coup. And the security minister, Manuel Nguema, said on the same day that he had established a close friendship with Mann. He enjoys lunch and a glass of wine with Mann every day in the Black Beach prison, where Mann has been given a comfortable private room.

Nguema also said Mann had given him a copy of The Wonga Coup, Adam Roberts' book about the failed putsch.

On Thursday Mann gave four hours of testimony in which he named those behind the Wonga Coup as the Spanish, South African and US governments, as well as Mark Thatcher, son of former Margaret Thatcher, among many others.

Mann also said London-based Lebanese multi-millionaire Ely Calil was "the cardinal, the boss" who controlled the finances of Wonga Coup. Attorney general Olo Obono said Equatorial Guinea would seek the extradition of Thatcher and Calil.

The attempt to topple Nguema was dubbed The Wonga Coup after Mann smuggled out a letter from Chikurubi prison to Thatcher in March 2004, which read: "Once we get into a real trial scenario we are f*****. The opportunity lies in our deportment from Z Zimbabwe to SA South Africa It may be that getting us out comes down to a large splodge of wonga."

After his arrest in Cape Town for involvement in the coup, Thatcher, threatened with extradition, entered a plea bargain and was fined £250,000 while denying knowledge. His £180,000 bail and the fine are widely believed to have been paid by Mrs Thatcher.

Equatorial Guinea has been described by Transparency International as one of the world's top 10 corrupt states, but it has large, recently disovered oil reserves, exporting some 400,000 barrels a day The majority of its deeply impoverished people, numbering fewer than half a million, have not benefited from the oil boom and barely survive on 50p a day.

Obiang Nguema has ruled his country since 1979, when he seized power from his uncle in a coup.