London: Scotland's most senior politician said on Wednesday there was no conspiracy in his country's decision to release the Lockerbie bomber following questions over oil company BP's influence on the process.
"We had no contact with BP either written or verbal or any lobbying of that kind as far as the process of compassionate release was concerned," Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond told BBC Radio 4.
Scotland, which has broad legal powers, released Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi last August as it believed he had only months to live because of prostate cancer. He is still alive.
BP, facing huge U.S. criticism over an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has confirmed it lobbied the British government in late 2007 over a prisoner transfer agreement between Britain and Libya, further angering U.S. senators.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 13:58