According to UPI:Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called for a formal investigation into the allegations.
"In particular, I ask that the committee examine whether Mr. Megrahi's release was influenced by oil contracts between U.K.-based BP Plc. and the government of Libya," he writes.
Lautenberg said a formal investigation should look into whether oil and commercial interests played a role in the decision.
London, meanwhile, faces an uncertain energy future as deposits in the North Sea run dry. Ukraine and other European nations have lobbied for access to Libyan reserves as well.
Regardless, Lautenberg says the bombing of Pan Am 103 was a "brutal act of terrorism" that should not be linked to commercial interests.
"I urge the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing and investigation to uncover whether justice took a back seat to commercial interests," he said.
More from PolitickerNJ.com· Whether oil and commercial interests led to the U.K's. authorization to include al-Megrahi in the Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) when it had previously sought to exclude him;
· If the negotiated PTA and/or the August 20 release of al-Megrahi violated the international agreement between the U.S. and the U.K.;
· Whether oil contracts played a role in the U.K. government's actions leading up to the release of al-Megrahi, including the U.K.'s failure to object to al-Megrahi's release; and
· Whether commercial interests played a role in the decision to release al-Megrahi.
Scotland's The Herald has still more:
Sir Christopher [Meyer], speaking about his time as ambassador in Washington during the 1998 negotiations over Megrahi’s trial, said: “One thing I do remember very, very clearly was that it was very important to them [the US] to get a commitment out of us that if Megrahi and the other guy were found guilty, they would serve the full term of their sentence in a UK jail.
“That was a vital selling point for the relatives and friends of the Americans who died in the blowing up of the Pan Am flight.” He added that this was the “clear political and diplomatic understanding” the US had.
