A statement by the office of First Minister Alex Salmond said questions by the two senators are misdirected
Clik here to view.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, left, steps up to the microphone as U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, right, embraces Kathleen Flynn of Montville during a news conference at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday.The Scottish First Minister’s office said today it will not respond to questions by New Jersey’s two U.S. Senators regarding the release of a Libyan national convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
A statement by the office of First Minister Alex Salmond, who heads the Scottish government, said questions in an Aug. 2 letter from the two Democratic senators, Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, about a probe into the release of Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi were misdirected.
"The questions Senators Menendez and Lautenberg ask in this letter are all about the nature of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee inquiry, which is properly a matter for the parliament and its committee, not government," said the statement.
The statement also said Scotland had already provided information to Menendez despite having no obligation to do so. "Scottish Government ministers and officials are accountable to the Scottish Parliament, not to other legislatures," it said.
The 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270 people, including 38 from New Jersey.
On Tuesday, Menendez said he was "beyond disappointed" when British Petroleum’s outgoing CEO said he was too busy to testify at a hearing looking into last year’s release of a Libyan national convicted in the Flight 103 bombing.
Menendez had scheduled a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which he serves, after documents were uncovered he and others say suggest BP lobbied Scottish officials for the release of Megrahi to win a lucrative oil deal with Libya.
Many were outraged by Megrahi’s release from a Scottish prison last August after he was diagnosed with cancer and was said to have just three months to live. Megrahi is still alive, and Menendez has promised a hearing on the release.
Scottish authorities have denied any link between Megrahi’s release and the BP-Libya oil deal.
