Lockerbie bomber 'blackmailed' Gaddafi
Fighting the system: Al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds from prison and allowed to return home, where a year later he continues to be treated for prostate cancer. Source: AP LOCKERBIE bomber Abdel Baset al Megrahi blackmailed Gaddafi into securing his release from a Scottish jail.
Megrahi threatened to get "revenge" and "spill the beans" on Gaddafi's involvement in the bombing if he was not "rescued" from prison, Libya's former justice minister Mustapha Abdeljalil said in an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times.
Abdeljalil said Megrahi's threat led to Gaddafi setting up a $80,000 a month fund to be spent on lobbying and legal costs in the fight for the convicted bomber's release.
The former justice minister claimed that Megrahi warned Gaddafi, "If you do not rescue me, I will reveal everything. If you don't ensure my return home, I will reveal everything."
Abdeljalil quit his job as Libya's justice minister as the country spiraled into turmoil after a popular uprising against Gaddafi. He spoke from the Libyan city of Benghazi, where he was setting up an interim government in case the current regime fell.
The former lawmaker said Gaddafi ordered Megrahi to carry out the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 while it was flying over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988, killing 270 people - mostly Americans.
Megrahi was convicted for murder over the bombing and sentenced to life in a Scottish prison.
But the threat to reveal Gaddafi's involvement worked, with the Libyan leader securing his release in August 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was suffering from cancer. Megrahi is still alive, despite claims at the time of his release that he only had months to live.
"[Gaddafi and his officials] were dedicated to ensuring that Megrahi should return to Libya even if it cost them every penny they had. It was costing Libya £50,000 a month being paid to him, his legal team and family members for visitations and living expenses," Abdeljalil said, adding that up to $2 billion was spent on the case.
Susan Cohen, 72, of New Jersey, who lost her 20-year-old daughter Theodora in the bombing, said, "This adds weight to what I've always known - that Gaddafi was behind it all along. The irony now is that after this, Megrahi might wish he was back in prison in Scotland, and the irony is that he might even outlive Gaddafi."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/lockerbie-bomber-blackmailed-gaddafi/story-fn6s850w-1226013205827