London, September 01: Britain will publish all “relevant” correspondence with Scotland on the Lockerbie bomber, an official said, amid suggestions oil deals with Libya played a role in his release.
London will publish Tuesday its communication with Scottish ministers over Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, whose release from prison earlier this month sparked outrage in the United States, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.
“We will release all relevant documents with Scottish ministers,” the spokeswoman told AFP, declining to give details.
The correspondence is expected to reinforce the British government’s stance that no deals were done over Megrahi’s release.
It consists of mainly letters from the Ministry of Justice, some of which have already been leaked, relating to Britain’s prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, the BBC said, citing sources.
Hours earlier, Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond said his government would also release documents Tuesday ahead of an expected fiery debate in the Scottish parliament on Wednesday on the issue.
“We have absolutely nothing we want to keep back,” Salmond said.
Salmond again denied that the decision by his justice secretary was linked to commercial deals or other reasons, saying it was based purely on compassionate grounds as Megrahi has terminal prostate cancer.
–Agencies