Lockerbie bomber 'free for Libyan oil'

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Lockerbie bomber 'free for Libyan oil'

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Saif Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader (right) with Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi upon his arrival in Tripoli.

As the release of the sole man convicted of the Lockerbie plane bombing stirs up controversy, leaked governmental letters reveal that the bomber was set free over lucrative Libyan oil contracts.

The Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, suffering from terminal prostate cancer, was allowed to return to Libya from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds earlier in August.

He was initially imprisoned in 2001 after having been found guilty of the 1988 bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

Amid growing anger over the issue, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill assured those concerned that the decision to release the prisoner, which under the Scottish law is up to the Justice Ministry, was solely his and not based on "political, diplomatic or economic considerations."

Meanwhile, according to a report published by Times Online, leaked ministerial letters reveal that the British government decided that it was "in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom" to release the Libyan convict.

Letters sent in 2007 by Jack Straw -- the justice secretary -- to MacAskill -- his Scottish counterpart -- makes it clear that the key decision to release al-Megrahi was, in fact, made in London for Britain's national interests.

According to the report, the issue of the release of al-Megrahi was mentioned in ministerial correspondence as discussions over a multi-billion-pound oil exploration deal between energy giant BP and Libya had reached a stalemate.

The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to 15 billion pounds, was announced in May 2007. Six months later, the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.

The issue, however, was resolved soon after Straw wrote to MacAskill on December 19, 2007 allowing the prisoner transfer.

"The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual," he wrote in a letter leaked by a Whitehall source.

Within six weeks of the government withdrawal, the BP deal was ratified by Libya.

Saif Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has also confirmed the report, saying that the release of al-Megrahi was linked with the BP oil contract.

"At all times we talked about the [prisoner transfer agreement], it was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about.

"People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and oil deals were all with the [prisoner transfer agreement]."

CS/AKM
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