Remember Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber? Yes, the guy who five months ago only had three months to live because of terminal prostate cancer? The guy who was sent to Libya to live his final days?
Yeah, the guy who was given a hero’s welcome, and who goes missing whenever he feels like it.
That guy.
Well, it turns out he held almost £2million in a Swiss bank account during his trial (h/t The Astute Bloggers):
Last night the Crown Office confirmed that a “substantial sum” had come to light in 2000, with one source estimating the figure at £1.8million.
Yes, you’d say that nearly $4 million is a “substantial sum”, for sure.
But his prosecutors ignored it:
Evidence of al-Megrahi’s riches was passed to prosecutors by the Swiss authorities in 2000, but was deemed inadmissible because legal proceedings had already begun.
…
“The state of his health notwithstanding, I hate the fact he may have access to that money,” said the former FBI officer. “It is unfortunate this could not have been raised at trial because I do believe it would have mitigated against his claim that he was not a Libyan agent – who has that much money to be allowed to sit in an account for that many years other than a government?”Other opponents of al-Megrahi’s release seized on the news of his unexpected wealth as incriminating evidence of his role in the murder of 270 people on board Pan Am flight 103.
“What is becoming increasingly clear is this myth that he is an ordinary member of the public who was offered up as a sacrificial lamb is total rubbish,” said Paul McBride, a leading Scottish criminal QC.
No sh*t, Sherlock.
The outrage ought to be at Scotland’s authorities for releasing him, not at having come across the fact that he’s a terrorist and a criminal – after all he was tried, convicted and sentenced for it.
But let me ask you one question, are they seizing the moneys in the Swiss bank account and giving the money to the families of the people he killed?
