Abu Dhabi: Libya has no objection to re-open investigation into the 1988 bombing that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland, killing 270 people, Libyan Prime Minister said yesterday.
“We have no objection to re-open [investigation into] the Lockerbie case to uncover the truth. And not to pay any [additional] compensation,” Libyan Prime Minister, Ali Zeidan told Gulf News during his meeting with the Libyan community members in Abu Dhabi.
Zeidan stressed that Libya will not pay any additional compensations. “The case was [financially] settled and we paid compensations.”
Britain insisted that the investigation into the case remains open, after a Libyan minister told The Daily Telegraph that the government there regarded the inquiry as over.
Prime Minister David Cameron said last month he was “delighted” that detectives from Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary were going to the Libyan capital. The American government has also shown renewed interest in the case. Senior officials in the Libyan government have told The Daily Telegraph that they had been receiving regular visits from US diplomats.
In 2003 the Libyan government paid $2.16 billion (£1.43 billion) in compensation to the families of the Lockerbie victims, and Ahmad Own, Libya’s then ambassador to the United Nations, submitted a letter to the Security Council formally accepting “responsibility for the actions of its officials” over the Lockerbie bombing.
The settlement came as part of an exchange for the removal of UN sanctions.
The Libayan prime minister made it clear his government is prepared to reopening of the case, but it will not allow Britain and the US to use any new investigation as a way to demand further financial compensation.
Zeidan, who was a human rights lawyer before the Libyan revolution, denied that Libya was depositing $2 billion to Egypt to help its stricken economy.
Dismissing it as a “rumour’, Zaidan said: “The Libyan government is not transferring any money to Egypt.”
But the Libyan prime minister confirmed cooperation with Egypt and granting its companies priority in reconstruction projects.
When asked about the security crisis in Libya and the proliferation of arms across the country, Zaidan said that the efforts were steadily made to stablise the country.
He told score of Libyan community in the UAE, security and defence tops his government’s priorities. “The government graduates tens of security officers, who are trained in the country and abroad, every week.”
He admitted more work would needed on security and economic area.
“Economy was completely destroyed and now we seek to build an open economy,” he said.
Zeidan said the Arab Summit held in Doha backed all Arab Spring countries including Libya, Egypt and Tunisia to recover their looted funds.
