Wikileaks - Al Megrahi Release Saved UK Business Interests

According to one of the recent Wikileaks cables, the UK ambassador to Libya said the nation's business interests would have been "cut off at the knees" if the Lockerbie bomber was not released. The dispatch - sent from the US embassy in Tripoli before the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi in August 2009 - reports the view expressed by the British ambassador at the time, Sir Vincent Fean. He is now the Consul-General in Jerusalem.

According to Der Spiegel, provided with prior access to the 250,000 US Embassy cables obtained by the whistle-blowing website, Sir Vincent was said to be relieved at news the Scottish Government was intending to release Megrahi as he was suffering from terminal cancer and expected to live less than three months. Kenny Macaskill, the Scottish Minister who made the honourable decision, has been pilloried by New Labour spivs and the Tory media alike.

The cable said: "The British ambassador expressed relief that Megrahi likely would be returned to Libya under the compassionate release programme. He noted that a refusal of Megrahi's request could have had disastrous implications for British interests in Libya. 'They could have cut us off at the knees, just like the Swiss'."

The ambassador's comment on "the Swiss" is a reference to Libya's reaction after Swiss police arrested Colonel Gaddafi's son, Hannibal, and his wife, Aline Skaf, on charges of abusing servants in a luxury hotel. Although the couple were quickly bailed and the charges dropped, Libya responded by withdrawing billions of dollars from Swiss banks, cutting off oil supplies, denying visas and recalling diplomats.