NEW YORK—U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and family members of two victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing are calling on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to open a criminal investigation into allegations that BP engaged in an illegal deal to release the bomber in exchange for access to Libyan oil fields.
Pan Am Flight 103, scheduled to fly from London Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, was bombed by Libyan terrorist Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi while in the air above Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The incident, which killed more than 259 people, was the deadliest terrorist attack prior to Sept. 11. Many among the victims were residents of New York and New Jersey.
Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison and put behind bars in Scotland in 2001. In August 2009, however, he was freed by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds, after being diagnosed with cancer and projected to have less than three months left to live. He is still alive today.
Sen. Charles Schumer has been following the case for a long time, since some of the victims come from his district in Brooklyn. According to the senator, mounting evidence points to a possible link between the sudden release of Megrahi and a deal signed between the British oil giant BP and the Libyan government shortly thereafter.
The deal was carried out under the cooperation of then British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It gave the company access to Libya’s oil fields and a potential exploration commitment of $900 million, according to a press release.
According to Schumer, the deal could possibly have been made under the Libyan government’s request to have Megrahi returned to Libya. The company admitted to having been involved in a prisoner transfer agreement for the commercial interest of the U.K. at one time, but denied that Megrahi was the prisoner, in an e-mail to the Wall Street Journal.
The doctor that had diagnosed Megrahi admitted a couple of weeks ago that he had been forced to falsify the diagnosis under bribery and predicted that Megrahi could possibly live for another 10 years, said the senator.
Schumer urged criminal investigation and sanctions for BP.
“No matter how powerful the corporation, how important the foreign government, a blood money deal is a blood money deal,” he said.
The senator also demanded that Megrahi is put back in jail if the allegations are proven to be true.
Pan Am Flight 103, scheduled to fly from London Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, was bombed by Libyan terrorist Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi while in the air above Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The incident, which killed more than 259 people, was the deadliest terrorist attack prior to Sept. 11. Many among the victims were residents of New York and New Jersey.
Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison and put behind bars in Scotland in 2001. In August 2009, however, he was freed by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds, after being diagnosed with cancer and projected to have less than three months left to live. He is still alive today.
Sen. Charles Schumer has been following the case for a long time, since some of the victims come from his district in Brooklyn. According to the senator, mounting evidence points to a possible link between the sudden release of Megrahi and a deal signed between the British oil giant BP and the Libyan government shortly thereafter.
The deal was carried out under the cooperation of then British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It gave the company access to Libya’s oil fields and a potential exploration commitment of $900 million, according to a press release.
According to Schumer, the deal could possibly have been made under the Libyan government’s request to have Megrahi returned to Libya. The company admitted to having been involved in a prisoner transfer agreement for the commercial interest of the U.K. at one time, but denied that Megrahi was the prisoner, in an e-mail to the Wall Street Journal.
The doctor that had diagnosed Megrahi admitted a couple of weeks ago that he had been forced to falsify the diagnosis under bribery and predicted that Megrahi could possibly live for another 10 years, said the senator.
Schumer urged criminal investigation and sanctions for BP.
“No matter how powerful the corporation, how important the foreign government, a blood money deal is a blood money deal,” he said.
The senator also demanded that Megrahi is put back in jail if the allegations are proven to be true.
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