Equatorial Guinea has asked South Africa for permission to interview Mark Thatcher, arrested this week on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot against the leader of the oil-rich country.
"The Equatorial Guinea authorities have requested permission to visit South Africa to interview Mark Thatcher in relation to the trial here," South African Foreign Ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.
"The status quo ante remains - there has been no request for extradition," Mamoepa said, adding the interview request was being considered.
The 51-year-old son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was arrested at his Cape Town home on Wednesday and police say they suspect he helped finance the alleged plot.
Thatcher, whose acquaintance Simon Mann, a former British special forces officer, was convicted in Zimbabwe on Friday on weapons charges linked to the suspected coup, has denied involvement.
Equatorial Guinea is trying 14 suspected foreign mercenaries accused of plotting to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has led sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer for several decades. Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for one of them, South African Nick du Toit.
A lawyer advising Equatorial Guinea had told Reuters there was "first contact" with South Africa over Thatcher's possible extradition, but later said the government was simply seeking more information.
"Equatorial Guinea is not accusing Mark Thatcher of anything at this stage," Lucie Bourthoumieux said late on Thursday.
"What it wants, now that Mark Thatcher has been arrested and Nick du Toit has spoken about him (in court) is to know more, to know exactly what role he did or did not play in planning or financing the attempted coup."
Bourthoumieux had said a formal extradition request would depend on the result of South African police investigations.
Bulelani Ngcuka, head of South Africa's FBI-style Scorpions, said in a television interview the unit had information on other people involved in bankrolling the coup plot, which it would share with the "affected" countries.
He gave no further details.