Robert Gates, (Lockerbie, October Surprise, Iran-Contra)
A. According to The Herald, 19 February 2009, the Crown is fighting to keep 48 pieces of Lockerbie trial evidence secret
"Prosecutors are trying to keep secret 48 pieces of evidence relating to the Lockerbie trial, including a secret fax that could discredit a key Crown witness.
"Lawyers for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 bombing, yesterday began a challenge over material they believe will free their terminally ill client.
"But the Crown Office and the UK Advocate General are fighting against disclosure."
B. Lockerbie witness ‘put up for reward’
Tony Gauci was a key Lockerbie witness.
According to The Herald, on 20 February 2009, previously undisclosed documents show that Scottish police recommended to US authorities that both the main witness in the Lockerbie trial (Gauci) and his brother should be paid up to $3m.
In 1988, the FBI's Robert Mueller (above) supervised the Lockerbie Bombing investigation."He successfully kept the CIA's connection to the bombing from becoming public.
"The CIA and FBI took control of the crash scene for the first day (keeping Scottish police at bay), searching through and removing numerous pieces of evidence and luggage from the wreckage to obscure the connections of the bombing to the CIA special team that was on board the aircraft.
"One CIA defector has said that the team had been returning to the states against orders to blow the whistle on CIA drug and terrorist connections in the Middle East." - FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ·
Edward Bollier of MEBOIn the Lockerbie Bombing (PanAm 103) case, it appears that the CIA and its friends arranged to have a 'timer' stolen from the Swiss firm of MEBO.
It appears that the security services then pretended that this 'timer' was the one used in the Lockerbie Bombing.
The Herald letters column, 23 August 2008, has a letter about the PanAm 103 - Lockerbie Bombing entitled High Court decision rapid and welcome
The author of the letter writes:
"Probably the most crucial item of physical evidence, namely the timer fragment PT35B, was not even tested for explosive residues."
Some of the comments on the Herald website are as follows:
Posted by: Edwin & Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO, Zurich
"MEBO LTD and myself have obviously been misused by the Scottish Justice and Lord Advocate Colin Boyd to construct a wrong link from Lockerbie to Libya... More news on our webpage: http://www.lockerbie.ch/... (Homepage www.mebocom-defilee.ch & www.lockerbie.ch)
"Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd. give the Crown, Lord Advocate General and the Appeal Court, the full warranty that the manipulated MST-13 timer fragment (PT-35B) does not come from a timer supplied to Libya and therefore cannot be brought in connection with Libya...
"Libya did pay the compensation under explicit objection that Libya had absolutely nothing to do with the PanAm 103 Lockerbie-Tragedy and could therefore not be made responsible. In the world media this objection is never mentioned.
"This tricky suppression of the whole statement by the world's leading news agencies leads to the generally accepted but nevertheless totally wrong notion: If they paid, they did it.
"Why Libya pays?: > Regain full diplomatic and economic status. This would allow oil companies to negotiate hundreds of billions of dollars worth of contracts, to drill the state's oilfields.
"US President Bush signed on August 4, 2008 into law: S.3370, the 'Libyan Claims Resolution Act.' The bill that grants Libyan immunity law and full diplomatic and economic status."
Lockerbie from commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Lockerbie.jpgPosted by: Mark Boyle, Johnstone
"Jeez Edwin & Mahnaz Bollier, you'll find few in Scotland that don't know that al Megrahi was just the fall guy (the main reason for the Yanks wanting him jailed was his expertise as Libya's No 1 sanction buster via Malta)."
Posted by: Peter Biddulph, Worcestershire, England
"Few folks will be aware of two important background features of the Lockerbie investigation and trial. Both are verified by historical and declassified documents and available for easy reference.
"1. The forensic scientist who claimed to be the first to find the famous bomb fragment was, a year after finding it, revealed by a Parliamentary investigation by Sir John May to be a co-conspirator with two colleagues in the with-holding of evidence in the trial of the alleged IRA Maguire Seven.
"The Maguires were released on appeal.
"This aspect was under-investigated by the Lockerbie trial defence, and ignored by the judges in the Lockerbie judgment.
"2. The career of the American agent in overall charge of the investigation includes several years involvement with the murderous Nicaraguan campaign, working alongside Colonel Oliver North in the Iran-Contra affair of the mid-eighties, and the covert arming of the Afghanistan Mujahadeen in the late eighties.
"The man was not called to give evidence at the Lockerbie trial.
"In an on-camera interview, he admitted that his name was on the original list of witnesses, but he presumed that the US authorities had removed it.
"We shall have to wait and see whether these two aspects will fully emerge during a second appeal.
Timer device
Two years after the Lockerbie bomb, investigators allegedly found a fragment of a timer device.
It has been alleged that the evidence concerning the timer fragment was fabricated by the CIA and its friends in order to implicate Libya in the bombing.
In the summer of 2007, a report from Darik Radio DARIK News revealed a confession:
"Ulrich Lumpert, a Swiss electronic engineer and former employee at the Zurich-based MEBO Ltd Telecommunication, has admitted that he stole from the company a hand manufactured MST-13 Timer PC-Board that was later used as evidence against the defendant, Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.
Lumpert says: "I realized that the MST-13 PC-board, after it was handed over by me without permission was misused for deliberate politically criminal 'action'." - Lockerbie Bombing Trial Faces U-Turn after Perjury Confession
Thomas Thurman
On 19 February 2006, The Mail on Sunday reported that new forensic tests have been carried out by the lawyers representing Al Megrahi, the Libyan jailed in connection with the Lockerbie bombing.
Defence experts simulated the Lockerbie explosion. The results showed that the device which detonated the bomb could not have survived the explosion.
According to The Mail on Sunday: "Sources close to Megrahi's lawyers said the new tests pointed to the evidence having been planted at the scene of the crash...
"The source added that Megrahi's legal team claimed they had obtained 'clear proof' that investigators had 'planted and manipulated' evidence...
"He said... if there is any justice in Scotland... certain Scottish police officers will be jailed for their part in the proceedings...
"Megrahi's lawyers already have a sworn statement from a retired Scottish police officer confirming that evidence had been planted to secure the Libyan's conviction.
"A similar claim was made by a former CIA agent...
"The ex-CIA man (claimed) that the fragment of circuit board had been planted under orders from a very high level in the organisation...
"The fragment was found by two policeman during a search of a wood near Newcastleton, 35 miles from Lockerbie.
"It was later identified by the CIA's Thomas Thurman as being part of a sophisticated timer device made by the Swiss firm of Mebo.
"Thurman was later unmasked as a fraud who had given false evidence in American murder trials..."
Orr
Who were the people involved in the Lockerbie investigation and trial?
John Orr, joint head of CID in Strathclyde police, was the chief investigating officer in the Lockerbie case. Sir John Orr got promoted to Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police (1995 to 2001). (The Herald : News: OTHER NEWS)
'The Golfer' is the former Scottish police chief who has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that key evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated. 'The retired officer - of assistant chief constable rank or higher - has testified that the CIA planted the tiny fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people.' (Scotsman.com News - Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked)
Two state prosecutors from the US Department of Justice played an important role in the Lockerbie trial. The United Nations observer at the Lockerbie trial, Dr Hans Kochler, reported that two state prosecutors from the US Department of Justice were in court, and, although not listed in any of the official documents about the Court's officers, they were constantly briefing Scottish prosecutors. ( UN Claims Lockerbie Trial Was Rigged)
Lord Fraser was the lord advocate (1989-92) who initiated the case against Megrahi. On 20 December 2006 Lord Fraser was detained by police after they were called to Dundee Airport following reports of a disturbance on board an aircraft. Lord Fraser was charged with disorderly conduct. It was announced on 2 February 2007 that the Crown Office had dropped these charges due to insufficient evidence that an offence had been committed.
Lord Hardie, as Lord Advocate 1997-2000, was due to lead the prosecution team in the Lockerbie trial. Lord Hardie resigned just before the Lockerbie trial began. There were rumours that there was a lack of evidence to convict the Libyans.
Colin Boyd was Lord Hardie's successor as Lord Advocate. He became Lord Boyd of Duncansby.
Norman McFadyen, then regional procurator-fiscal for Edinburgh, headed the Crown Office trial team at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands. He got promoted to Crown Agent, head of department for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Alan Turnbull, QC, was one of the two senior counsel leading the Crown team in the Lockerbie trial. In 2006, he became Scotland's youngest judge at the age of 47.
Advocate-depute Alastair Campbell, QC, was senior prosecution counsel in the Lockerbie trial. In 2003, he was appointed a judge and became Lord Bracadale.
Bill Taylor, QC, was defence counsel for Megrahi at Camp Zeist. He has been heavily criticised for failing to defend Megrahi successfully. ( We have removed an error here pointed out to us by The Lockerbie Case )
Alistair Duff was the defence lawyer for Megrahi.
Professor Hans Koechler, the United Nations' observer at the Lockerbie trial and appeal, has accused Mr Taylor and Mr Duff of betraying Megrahi by failing to represent him properly.
Eddie MacKechnie was solicitor to Fhimah who was acquitted.
Tony Gauci was the key crown witness and owner of the Maltese shop where Megrahi was said to have bought the clothing reportedly placed around the bomb.
At the trial, Tony Gauci was uncertain about the date he sold the clothes in question, and was not sure that it was Megrahi to whom they were sold.
Gauci gave two earlier statements in which he identified convicted Egyptian terrorist Abu Talb as the person who bought clothing.
Gauci gave earlier statements saying he did not sell a shirt to the man but six months later remembered selling shirts and the man. Two of Gauci's statements are missing.
A babygro said to have been wrapped around the bomb and shown to the court blown to pieces was recovered intact, according to a statement from the woman who found it.
Five years after the trial, Lord Fraser allegedly described Gauci as a “simple” man who might have been “easily led”. Lord Fraser was the lord advocate (1989-92) who initiated the case against Megrahi.
The Strathclyde police reportedly arranged for Gauci to go fishing, hillwalking and birdwatching in the Scottish Highlands. The Mail on Sunday newspaper said Gauci had been recorded on tape talking about five or six visits he had made to Scotland since 1988. Four members of Gauci's family are also said to have received some form of police hospitality during the investigation. (The Scotsman - Scotland - Lockerbie trial row over witness’s trip)
J Thomas Thurman was the FBI man who identified a fragment of a circuit board from a timing device which, he said, was from the Lockerbie bomb. Thurman was later removed from his FBI job after a US Department of Justice investigation concluded his FBI forensics lab had a record of fabricating evidence.
Edwin Bollier is head of the Swiss-based Mebo group which was supposed to have sold the timing device reportedly used in the Lockerbie bomb. Bollier claims that one of his employees supplied the Scottish police with a stolen timing device, which was then presented in the trial as having been found amidst the plane's wreckage.
The other two judges were Lord Coulsfield and Lord MacLean.
Lord Cullen was head of the five-judge panel which presided over the appeal of Megrahi at Camp Zeist in 2002. The other four judges were: Lord Kirkwood, Lord Osborne, Lord Macfadyen, and Lord Nimmo Smith.
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MEBO breakthru
DARIK News
Perjury confession in Lockerbie bombing trial
Click here to see A Just Dispatches, Just Television Production for Channel Four Television
http://www.lockerbie.ch/
aangirfan: Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked
Lockerbie - new forensic tests suggest evidence was planted by the CIA
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