LONDON, July 15 (UPI) -- British oil producer BP confirmed Thursday it lobbied the British government to transfer the Lockerbie airliner bomber to Libya to protect a Libyan oil deal.
The New York Times reported BP's statement repeated earlier acknowledgments it had promoted the transfer agreement to protect a $900 million oil-and-gas exploration deal off Libya's coast
Ultimately, it wasn't London but the Scottish government that arranged for Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person ever convicted in the 1988 terrorist attack that killed 270 people, to be sent to Tripoli on humanitarian grounds
At the time al-Megrahi was transferred last August, he had been expected to die of prostate cancer within a few months. He is still alive.
BP's statement came after six U.S. senators from New York, New Jersey and California called for an investigation into BP's actions in the Lockerbie case, the Times said.
