Oil Was Part of Lockerbie Talks: U.K. Official

LONDON, Sept. 5, 2009 — -- Trade and oil considerations played a major rolein the decision to include the Lockerbie bomber in a prisonertransfer agreement between Britain and Libya, a senior Britishofficial said in an interview published Saturday.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said trade, particularly a deal foroil company BP PLC, was "a very big part" of the 2007negotiations that led to the prisoner deal. The agreement was partof a wider warming of relations between London and Tripoli.

"Libya was a rogue state," Straw was quoted as saying by TheDaily Telegraph newspaper. "We wanted to bring it back into thefold and trade is an essential part of it - and subsequently therewas the BP deal."

The British government has faced intense criticism over therelease of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a Libyan convicted in the 1988bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attackkilled 259 people aboard the plane, most of them American, and 11on the ground.

Last month Scottish officials freed al-Megrahi, 57, oncompassionate grounds because he is dying of prostate cancer.

Although he was not released under the prisoner transferagreement, opposition politicians, and many victims' families,claim business considerations influenced the decision to free him.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted there was"no conspiracy, no cover up, no double dealing, no deal on oil"over the bomber's release.

But officials admit the prisoner transfer agreement was part ofa wider set of negotiations aimed at bringing Libya in from theinternational cold, and improving British trade prospects with theoil-rich nation.

David Lidington, foreign affairs spokesman for the mainopposition Conservatives, said it was "very hard to square whatJack Straw says today with Gordon Brown's repeated denials of anykind of deal."

"That's why we need an independent inquiry to get to thetruth."

Documents released by the government show Straw had originallytried to ensure that al-Megrahi was exempted from any prisoner dealwith Libya, but in December 2007 he changed his mind. He wrote in aletter to his Scottish counterpart that "wider negotiations withthe Libyans are reaching a critical stage" and a blanket agreementwas in "the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom."

Soon after, Libya ratified a $900 million oil exploration dealwith BP. The oil company acknowledged Friday that it had urged thegovernment to sign the prisoner transfer deal, but insisted it hadnot singled out al-Megrahi as part of the discussion.

Straw said Brown had not been involved in negotiations over theprisoner agreement.

"I certainly didn't talk to the PM," he was quoted as saying."There is no paper trail to suggest he was involved at all."