Scotland denies oil influenced Lockerbie release

Source: MSNBC/AP

Deputy first minister says decision made ‘entirely on justice grounds’

LONDON - The decision to release the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing was based on justice rather than commercial decisions, a senior Scottish politician said Monday.

The comments came after a British newspaper reported government officials allowed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi to be included in a prisoner transfer agreement because it was in the U.K.'s "overwhelming interests" as a major oil deal was being negotiated.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's deputy first minister, told the BBC she didn't know what agreements the British government had made, and said the decision of Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds was based on legal principles.

'Deals played no part whatsoever'
"What I do know, and what I can state categorically ... is that these deals — if such deals existed — played no part whatsoever in the decision that Kenny MacAskill took to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds," Sturgeon said. "That was a decision taken entirely on justice grounds, and there were no influences relating to political or economic interests that played any part in that."

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32625608/ns/world_news-europe/