Bomber freed to get Libyan oil deals, say critics

Libya has been courted by Britain's Prince Charles, Government ministers and Foreign Office mandarins on a dozen or more occasions in pursuit of lucrative oil and gas contracts.

Documents show British ministers and senior civil servants met Shell to discuss the company's oil interests in Libya on at least 11 occasions and perhaps as many as 26 times in less than four years.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock and even Prince Charles were involved in the meetings with Shell about its business in Libya or Egypt.

The revelations, showing that the Government invested large amounts of political capital in securing North African oil, lend weight to claims that commercial interest lay behind the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, from jail in Scotland to receive a hero's welcome in Libya.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted that London had no involvement in the release, but critics say the information obtained by the non-governmental organisation Platform, through a Freedom of Information Act request, raises fresh questions. "These documents show the deep and long-term foreign policy backing provided by the British Government to Shell in its efforts to break into Libya.

"Corporate executives have easy access to the highest level of Whitehall, while democracy advocates and social movements remain shut out on the street," said Mika Minio-Paluello, a campaigner with Platform.

"Yet again, the Foreign Office has prioritised securing new oil reserves for private corporations over human rights, the environment or democracy.

"Foreign policy should represent people's interests, not corporate interests. As a first step, the Government must open its files and disclose the true level of oil influence on Government decision-making."

Shell was one of the first Western oil companies to re-enter Libya after the end of United Nations sanctions and a commitment from leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to turn his back on funding terrorism and pursuing nuclear weapons.

A deal was signed by Shell on March 25, 2004, covering the establishment of a "long-term strategic partnership" between the oil company and the local state-owned energy group. A Government spokeswoman denied British oil interests played any part in the release of the Lockerbie bomber. She said: "There is no deal - all decisions relating to Megrahi's case were exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland and the Scottish judicial authorities. No deal has been made between the UK Government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests in the country."

Yesterday Megrahi backed calls for a public inquiry into the atrocity. He said he was determined to clear his name.

- OBSERVER