HC Deb 06 March 1995 vol 256 cc87-92W
Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will specify the quantity and nature of the drugs found in the debris near Lockerbie after the destruction of Pan Am 103.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

No significant quantities of drugs were recovered in the course of the Lockerbie investigation. Small "users" quantities of cannabis were found.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what study the Crown Office has made of the "File on Four" investigation of the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie on the evidence against two accused Libyans.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Crown Office officials have considered this programme, as they have other media productions which have come to their attention. My noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate considers that the appropriate place to test the results of the Lockerbie investigation is in the criminal courts and not on a radio programme.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library copies of the documents dealing with the only direct alleged eye-witness evidence identifying the alleged Libyan agents in Malta, supposedly involved in the destruction of Pan Am 103.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

My noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate cannot disclose details of the evidence in the Lockerbie case while criminal proceedings are pending.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Crown Office will place in the Library the report given to representative James Tafficant of Ohio of investigators hired by Pan Am insurance underwriters alleging that the CIA had allowed a man with terrorist connections to transport drugs to the United States in exchange for information about United States hostages in Lebanon.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

It is not in accordance with the policy of my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate to arrange for foreign litigation material to be placed in the Library.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library the letter from the senior legal assistant to the Lord Advocate, Mr. A. Dunn, to Mr. Martin Cadman of the Lockerbie Relatives Association concerning the examination by the Crown Office and the Dumfries and Galloway police of the evidence in "Maltese Double Cross".

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

It is not the policy of my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate to arrange for such correspondence to be placed in the Library.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library the results of the Crown Office examination of the evidence in "Maltese Double Cross"

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

It would be inappropriate to disclose the results of the examination of a film purporting to investigate the Lockerbie bombing while criminal proceedings are pending.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what communication the Crown Office has had withDer Spiegel in relation to Lockerbie, and the information published in Der Spiegel, of March 1995, in the article "Lockerbie: War Es Abu Nudal'?"

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

There have been no communications between Crown Office andDer Spiegel in relation to the article "Lockerbie: War Es Abu Nidal?" published in January 1995.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what conclusion the Crown Office adduced from the court award to Air Malta of compensation against Granada Television in relation to its allegations about the role of Malta G.C. in the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The Crown Office has drawn no conclusions from settlement of a civil litigation which proceeded upon the basis of allegations which are different in detail from those contained within the charges in the petition warrants for the arrest of the two Libyans accused of this crime.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Scottish police have interviewed Maurice Callejas, Commander of the Maltese armed forces in 1988.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what positive identification took place by anyone interviewed by the Scottish police in Malta of Libyan suspects.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

My noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate cannot disclose details of the evidence in the Lockerbie case while criminal proceedings are pending.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on what dates Scottish police interviewed Dr. David Fieldhouse, Bradford police surgeon, in connection with his work in the Lockerbie area in December 1988.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Dr. Fieldhouse travelled to Lockerbie on a number of occasions in early 1989. He held discussions there with officers of Dumfries and Galloway police concerning his involvement in the identification and examination of Lockerbie victims. These discussions culminated in his submission of a detailed statement to them on 22 April 1989.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Crown Office endorsed the apology given in his written report by Sheriff John Mowat to Dr. David Fieldhouse for overlooking his information about Lockerbie body DCF 12 Male, Hillside NE of Shawhill farm and of the undeserved criticism of his activities.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Sheriff Principal Mowat QC did not apologise for overlooking information about a body but apologised for criticism which had been made of Dr. Fieldhouse during the fatal accident inquiry relating to the Lockerbie disaster. The Sheriff Principal found in terms that Dr. Fieldhouse had pronounced life extinct in 58 bodies. That accorded with the evidence of the police at the fatal accident inquiry.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the letter JAD/91 of 9 January from Mr. J. A. Dunn, senior legal assistant at the Crown Office, to Mr. Martin Cadman, father of a victim of Pan Am 103, what new material arising from examination of the film "Maltese Double Cross" has been investigated and subjected to detailed scrutiny.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

It would be inappropriate to disclose the results of the examination of a film purporting to investigate the Lockerbie bombing while criminal proceedings are pending.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Crown Office has sought to interview Mr. James Shaughnessy, lawyer for Pan Am, with regard to United States-United Kingdom surveillance of the Iranian embassy in Beirut in the second half of 1988.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if(a) the Crown Office and (b) the Scottish police have sought to interview Mr. Ali Nuri Zadeh about his reports in the Al Dustur newspaper involving Matthew Gannon and Charles McKee, both of whom perished at Lockerbie.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what consideration the Crown Office has given to the advancing age of those witnesses whom the prosecution proposes to lead in court in relation to the Lockerbie case.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The Crown Office has noted the passing of time.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what grounds the Crown Office has for supposing that a criminal trial in relation to Lockerbie can still be anticipated as indicated in the Lord Advocate's letter, CAD/E/MP/286/93.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

A trial will take place as and when the Libyans make the two accused available for trial in Scotland or the United States as required by the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the journalist, Alasdair Palmer, is employed in any capacity by Her Majesty's Government.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Alasdair Palmer is not employed in any capacity by Her Majesty's Government.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what knowledge he has of body DCF 12 Male, Hillside, NE of Shawhill farm found at Lockerbie by Dr. David Fieldhouse.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

At the fatal accident inquiry relating to the Lockerbie disaster, Dr. Fieldhouse gave evidence that there was no record of the body which he had labelled as DCF 12 being found by the police. Dr. Fieldhouse went on to state that the assumption was that there had been human error in recording the location of that body although he considered it to be unlikely that the error could have arisen from his involvement at that particular location. Dr. Fieldhouse went on to state that the suggested locations given by him for bodies did riot match up in all cases with the police information. Having considered all the evidence, the Sheriff Principal, in his determination, concluded that Dr. Fieldhouse pronounced life extinct in 58 bodies. That accorded with the evidence of the police at the fatal accident inquiry.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library the 18 separate statements that Tony Gavci, clothing shopkeeper of Malta, gave to Scottish police.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

My noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate cannot disclose details of evidence while criminal proceedings are pending.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Scottish police have a sworn statement from Her Majesty's Customs Officer Philip Connolly.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether a British Customs officer stationed in Cyprus in 1988 has been questioned by the Scottish police about controlled drug deliveries.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the evidence presented to the Crown Office following the presentation of the petition charging named Libyan individuals to the sheriff of Dumfries was regarded by them at the time as being sufficient for them to conclude their investigations; and on what date they deemed their investigations to be concluded.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The evidence presented to the prosecuting authorities by the police was sufficient to enable the procurator fiscal to request petition warrants for the arrest of the two named accused from the sheriff at Dumfries. As has always been made clear, the investigation remains open.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what directions or instructions to investigate recent allegations of Iranian and Syrian involvement in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, the Crown Office has given the Dumfries and Galloway police in relation to the directions and instructions of the procurator fiscal.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear, in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Dumfries and Galloway police have interviewed(a) officials of the United States embassy who were in Nicosia in 1988 to determine what they knew of events leading up to the Lockerbie disaster and (b) the 1988 CIA station chief in Nicosia and the Drugs Enforcement Agency country attache.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear, in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what consideration the Crown Office has given to its legal duty in law to consider and investigate any evidence which tends to exculpate the two libyans accused of the Lockerbie crime; and if the Crown Office is complying with this legal obligation.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The Crown Office considers all relevant evidence and carries out such investigations as are appropriate and will continue to do so in the exercise of its duties.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what inquiries the Crown Office have made of Mr. Larry Robinson, of the United States embassy in London, on the issue of persons, in addition to two Libyans, being involved in the Lockerbie crime.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear, in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details of investigative steps which have been taken.

Dr. Godman

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much in(a) US dollars (b) pounds sterling and (c) other currencies was collected from the scene of the Lockerbie disaster in December 1988, other than the normal personal money of passengers and crew members of the aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

No amounts of money, other than what might ordinarily be regarded as personal money, were found at the Lockerbie crash site. A cashed cheque and substantial quantities of encashed travellers cheques were recovered.

Dr. Godman

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what conclusions the Crown Office has drawn from evidence presented in the court at Karlsruhe in relation to the Lockerbie bombing on 26 April 1989 as to the source of the radios; and what state of preparation they were in when bought.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

My noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate cannot disclose details of evidence while criminal proceedings are pending.

Dr. Godman

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Durnfries and Galloway police were present throughout the interview with Mr. Ghadanfar in Frankfurt on 26 October 1988.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Dumfries and Galloway constabulary had no interest in Mr. Ghadanfar in October 1988. It will be recalled that the Lockerbie bombing did not take place until 21 December 1988.

Mr. Stewart

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what instructions or directions to investigate allegations of involvement of countries other than Libya, in the destruction of Pan Am 103, the Crown Office has given the Dumfries and Galloway police in relation to the instructions and directions of the procurator fiscal.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

As my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has made clear, in relation to the Lockerbie case, as in any other case, it is not appropriate for the investigating or prosecuting authorities to give details investigative steps which have been taken.