U.S. postpones Megrahi probe

WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- A hearing on the decision by the Scottish government to release the Lockerbie bomber has been postponed, U.S. lawmakers announced Thursday.

U.S. lawmakers in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had called for an investigation into a 2009 decision by the Scottish government to release convicted Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, on compassionate grounds.

British oil company BP, set to drill off the coast of Libya later this year, acknowledged that it lobbied the British government for a prisoner swap with Libya out of fears a multimillion-dollar oil deal would be jeopardized. The company, however, said it played no role in the Megrahi deal, saying the Scottish government was the ultimate authority in the transfer on compassionate grounds.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., joined a list of senators calling for a probe into the allegations.

Schumer complained in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that BP allegedly told the British government in September that the 2007 oil deal faced delays unless Megrahi was released.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced on its Web site Thursday that the Megrahi probe was postponed.

The delay comes as BP boasts progress in controlling an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The fallout from the spill, however, prompted a move by Tony Hayward out of the top board position.

U.S. lawmakers had asked for Hayward to appear. A date for a rescheduled hearing wasn't available.