Rumor: Lockerbie Bomber's Release tied to $609M Deal

UNCONFIRMED: The full email has not been made public, the Libyans never followed through on their end, and a Blair spokesman says it proves the opposite of what the Telegraph alleges

 Picture taken on February 18, 1992, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man found guilty of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988 and killing all 259 passengers and crew members on board, was freed from British prison on Aug. 20, 2009 on "compassionate grounds" as he was said to be near death. But the Telegraph newspaper says it has an email that shows the reason for Libya's most infamous terrorist being released wasn't compassion at all, but money: about $609 million, in fact.

The email was reportedly sent by Sir Vincent Fean, the former British ambassador to Libya, to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair on June 8, 2008. Fean is the same diplomat who came under fire after a 2010 Wikileaks report showed him worrying that if al-Megrahi wasn't released, Libya would "cut us off at the knees" financially.

The Telegraph has not published the email in question in full, but the extended excerpt they provide mentions a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the U.K. and Libya that promises four unnamed prisoner transfers in exchange for Libya's purchasing of an expensive air-defense system known as Jernas.

"Linked (by Libya) is the issue of the 4 bilateral Justice agreements about which TB (Tony Blair) signed an MoU with Baghdadi (Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, Libya's then-prime minister) on 29 May. The MoU says they will be negotiated within the year: they have been. They are all ready for signature in London as soon as Libya fulfills its promise on Jernas."

About 14 months after the email was sent, al-Megrahi was freed, though the Libyans never signed the arms deal.

Blair aide disputes email's meaning

The British embassy in Tripoli did not immediately respond to a MSN News public record request seeking the full release of documents pertaining to the correspondence in question. A representative for Blair, however, told the Telegraph that the prisoner transfer agreements were for different people than al-Megrahi, and that "Actually it shows the opposite — that any linkage (to al-Megrahi) was from the Libyan side."

"As far as we’re aware there was no linkage on the UK side," the aide is quoted saying. "What the email in fact shows is that, consistent with what we have always said, it was made clear to the then Libyan leader that the release of Megarahi was a matter for Scotland and was not a matter for Her Majesty’s Government."