Libyan oil official: Lockerbie wasn't part of BP talks by Niki2

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Libyan oil official: Lockerbie wasn't part of BP talks

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Friday, July 16, 2010 11:24
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Friday, July 16, 2010 11:00 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

"I was the person who was negotiating the technical [points] and the whole agreement" for the oil company to drill off the Libyan coast, he said. "I never spoke on any political [issues], not did I accept any political interference."

Ghanem insisted Friday that the oil agreement was ratified in 2007 -- two years before al Megrahi's release.

Earlier Friday, Britain's ambassador to the United States, Nigel Sheinwald, said the government believes it was wrong to let al Megrahi out of prison in August 2009 and return to his native Libya, but it was a decision taken by the Scottish executive, not the British government. Scotland has its own government that is responsible for most of the day-to-day issues there, including the justice system.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed al Megrahi in August after doctors concluded he had terminal prostate cancer and three months to live.

The ambassador's statement came a day after the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced it will hold a hearing July 29 to examine whether BP may have played a role in lobbying for al Megrahi's release.

Ghanem dismissed the announcement as political posturing. "The U.S. can do any hearing they want, this is their business," he said. "But we're a sovereign country. ... American Congress can do whatever they want, but senators, they have to give the impression they are U.S. senators."

Al Megrahi, now 58, was convicted of involvement in the December 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The attack killed 270 people, including 11 on the ground. He was the only one ever convicted in the case.

BP said it did express concern to the British government in late 2007 about the slow progress of a prisoner transfer agreement that Britain and Libya were negotiating, saying it could have had a "negative impact" on British commercial interests. However, BP says it was not involved in any talks with either the British or Scottish governments about al Megrahi's release specifically.

Scotland also denied any contact with BP over the al Megrahi case. It said his release was on compassionate grounds and was separate from the prisoner transfer agreement. The fact that al Megrahi is still alive does not change the Scottish government's thinking about his release, a spokesman for the Scottish government said.

"All over the world, when you have a commercial agreement with some country and if you have some other problems, you as a businessman or investor you may be concerned -- but this does not mean you make the agreement to help in this or to help in that," Ghanem said. "But of course you would love always to see that the relations are good between your country and the country of the investor."

Supposedly he was dying, wouldn't last three months. It's been eleven months...when will the bastard die? (Sorry, NO sympathy here)

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off

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Friday, July 16, 2010 11:24 AM

WHOZIT

Yet another reason to hate BP. Of coruse BP would not be involved in the political end, Gordon Brown knew what to do.

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