Oil Ties Draw Flak in Lockerbie Case

wsj.com ^ | Sept. 8, 2009 | ALISTAIR MACDONALD and SPENCER SWARTZ

[Free ThinkerNY]

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who recently released the Lockerbie bomber, has a brother who is an energy-industry executive and who has worked at firms that have pitched for oil business in Libya.

The Scottish government, which has said that it made full disclosure of facts relevant to the decision, didn't disclose this relationship, and opposition politicians on Monday criticized this. [Kenny MacAskill] Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Scotish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill

Over the years, Allan MacAskill has worked for several companies that sought oil business in Libya. Allan MacAskill says he didn't work on any of his employers' Libyan oil proposals, and added that he has never discussed the Lockerbie case with his younger brother Kenny. Mr. MacAskill is business development director at a firm that develops offshore wind farms, SeaEnergy Renewables.

Kenny MacAskill last month prompted an international uproar with his decision to release Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan-Am flight that killed 270 people. Mr. al-Megrahi had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, allowing him to be granted a so-called compassionate release.

"[Kenny MacAskill's] my brother and he is a minister of the Scottish government, anything to do with Megrahi is nothing to do with me," Allan MacAskill said on Monday. "We [SeaEnergy] have nothing to do with it."

A Scottish government spokesman described as "ridiculous" any attempt to link Mr. MacAskill's brother to the Lockerbie decision.

"As the Justice Secretary has made clear, he made his decision based on due process according to the law, having considered the recommendations from the Scottish Prison Service, the Prison Governor and the Parole Board as is required by the legislation on compassionate release," another spokesman said.