former prime minister arranged to fly to Tripoli on Colonel Gaddafi's private jet for secret talks in June 2008 and April 2009. Tony Blair insists his talks with Colonel Gaddafi were not about Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (Getty Images) The Scottish government released Megrahi - the man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 - on compassionate grounds in August 2009 as he was suffering from prostate cancer. It is known the then Libyan dictator threatened to cut trade ties with the UK in 2008 unless Megrahi was freed. Emailed exchanges between Mr Blair's office, Libya's embassy in London and Sir Vincent Fean, the former British ambassador in Tripoli, suggested the ex-prime minister met officials from the Libyan Investment Authority, as well as Colonel Gaddafi. A spokesman for Mr Blair said there was nothing untoward about the meetings and that he played no part in the release of Megrahi. 'The subjects of the conversations during Mr Blair's occasional visits was primarily Africa, as Libya was for a time head of the African Union; but also the Middle East and how Libya should reform and open up,' he said. 'Of course the Libyans, as they always did, raised Megrahi. Mr Blair explained, as he always did, in office and out of it, that it was not a decision for the UK government but for the Scottish Executive.' The spokesman added the former prime minister had no commercial relationship with the Libyan government.
0 comments:
Post a Comment