You can see the text of the letter they sent Clinton at that link.Probe Sought of BP-Lockerbie Bomber Deal »
By Michael McAuliff
Four senators are wondering if BP traded the justice won by victims of the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing for profits — and if the oil giant is now using that “blood money” to compensate Americans for the Gulf oil spill.
The senators, Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), are asking Secretary of State Clinton to find out.
It’s the latest move by U.S. leaders outraged that Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of killing 270 people in the 1988 bombing, was freed from a Scottish prison 11 months ago on grounds that he had only three months to live.
Multiple reports have surfaced since than that Megrahi was released as part of a prison swap that was proposed in 2007, but not completed until 2009, while BP was negotiating to drill off the coast of Libya. BP got the deal after Megrahi got sent home to a hero’s welcome.
And BP’s actions in the Gulf oil spill show that the company cares more for money than people, the senators argue in a letter to Clinton today.
“Evidence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster seems to suggest that BP would put profit ahead of people - its attention to safety was negligible, and it routinely underestimated the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf,” they write to Clinton in a request for the probe. “The question we now have to answer is, was this corporation willing to trade justice in the murder of 270 innocent people for oil profits?”
And if the company did that, they argue, it means victims in the Gulf could be compensated on the backs of victims from the Lockerbie bombing.
“Answering this crucial question will help complete our understanding of the Scottish court’s decision to release this murderer and will help us understand if BP might use blood money to pay claims for damage in the Gulf of Mexico,” the senators write.
They want Megrahi returned to prison in Scotland. He was released last August after doctors told the court Megrahi was dying of prostate and only had three months left.
A doctor surfaced two weeks ago saying he was paid by the Libyan government for that diagnosis, although Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. denies the physician who came forward had a role.
Megrahi is reportedly living in luxury in Libya.[
British authorities have already turned down a request to look into the matter, so the four senators say it’s up to the State Department.
“The information that such an investigation would yield is important to fully determine the legitimacy of the decision to release this mass murderer and to fully understand the source of revenue streams for this corporation, which owes American taxpayers and coastal families billions of dollars,” they write.
Update: BP admits it had an interest in the prsioner swap, and was concerned it would derail its drilling deal, but the company insists it did push the Megrahi case.
BP spokesman Mark Salt e-mailed the following:
* It is a matter of public record that in late 2007 BP discussed with the UK government our concern at the slow progress in concluding a Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Libya.
* Like many others we were aware that a delay might have negative consequences for UK commercial interests, including ratification of BP’s exploration agreement.
* However, we did not express a view about the specific form of the agreement, which was a matter for the UK and Libyan governments, or make representations over the al-Megrahi case, which was solely a matter for the Scottish Executive and not for the UK Government.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/201 ... z0tag2Ygil
This could just be some political grandstanding, (though none of those Senators are up for re-election this year)
but that does seem awfully coincidental, (and BP is known to have considerable political clout in the UK) and given what BP has admitted to in that statement, it would seem that an investigation is entirely in order.
