US Senators Seek Probe Into Alleged BP Link to Lockerbie Release
VOA News
14 July 2010
Four U.S. senators have asked the U.S. State Department to investigate whether oil giant BP pressured Britain to free the only man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to protect an oil deal with Libya.
In a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the senators said evidence from the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico seems to suggest that BP would, in their words, "put profit ahead of people."
The lawmakers say it was reported in September that BP communicated to the British government concerns that possible delays in the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi could jeopardize a $900 million oil deal with Libya.
On Tuesday, BP said it is public record that it discussed with the British government in 2007 its concern about the pace of finalizing a prisoner transfer deal with Libya. But BP said it did not mention the Megrahi case.
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said there was no "double-dealing" linked to Megrahi's release from a Scottish prison in August 2009.
The U.S. senators who signed the letter were Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer of New York and Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
Scottish authorities freed Megrahi on compassionate grounds after doctors diagnosed him with terminal prostate cancer. His release drew international outrage and strong protests from U.S. leaders and families of the bombing victims.
The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270 people.
The ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was a result of an explosion on a rig leased by BP. The April 20 blast killed 11 workers. BP has been leading the cleanup efforts.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Bloomberg.
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