Libya Offers $2.7 Billion Lockerbie Settlement
Tue May 28, 9:02 PM ET
By Patrick Rizzo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Libya has offered $2.7 billion to compensate families of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, but U.S. and U.N. sanctions against Libya must be lifted before it hands the money over, a law firm representing families said on Tuesday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20020529/ts_nm/lockerbie_settlement_dc_4

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In a letter sent to Lockerbie victims' families, the law firm said Libya would automatically release the money -- $10 million total for each of the 270 families -- in batches from an escrow account as three conditions were met.

It said that 40 percent of the money would be released when the now suspended U.N. sanctions against Libya are lifted, another 40 percent would be released after U.S. commercial sanctions are removed and the remaining 20 percent would be handed over when Libya is taken off the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism.

The letter said Libya would put the money into an escrow account in a non-U.S. bank, probably a British bank, selected by the law firm. The money would automatically be released to a plaintiff's committee account in New York as the conditions were met and Libya would not be able to deny payments or pull the money back.

The offer first must be accepted by the victims' families, who sued the Libyan government in 1996. Some representatives of the families took a pragmatic view of the offer, while others said it was a ploy by Libya to get out of the sanctions, imposed after the 1988 explosion that killed 259 mostly American passengers and crew, and 11 residents of Lockerbie.

In January 2001 a three-judge Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands found Abdel Basset al-Megrahi guilty of the bombing, sentenced him to life in prison and said it accepted evidence he was a member of Libya's Jamahariya Security Organization. The court acquitted and set free his co-defendant, Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima.

Al-Megrahi appealed the verdict, but Scottish appeal judges in the Netherlands in March upheld his conviction.

Libya has denied it had any role in the bombing.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that U.S. policy, at least for now, would not be affected by Libya's offer.

"Our policy and our views haven't changed one iota because of this," the official told Reuters.

Representatives of the Libyan government in New York were not immediately available to comment.

"In our discussions it was perfectly obvious that Libya would pay a great deal of money not just to settle our lawsuit, but to get sanctions lifted," said the letter from the New York law firm of Kreindler and Kreindler, a member of the plaintiffs committee and attorney for 118 victims' families. A copy of the letter was obtained by Reuters.

"This payment schedule is designed to put the maximum pressure on Libya to do whatever our government requires in order for our government to lift U.S. sanctions," the letter said.

The United States and Britain have demanded that Libya accept responsibility for the bombing and pay "appropriate" compensation to the victims' families before the U.N. sanctions -- suspended in April 1999 when Libya handed over the two men for trial -- are removed completely.

More damaging to Libya than the U.N. sanctions, which included an air and arms embargo and a ban on some oil equipment, are separate U.S. sanctions on all commercial and financial transactions between Tripoli and the United States.

I heard on the news last night that the many of the families will not accept this money if they don't accept responsibility for what they've done.

They have plenty to be skeptical about, just heard that Libya denies they offered a settlement.

Families of Pan Am 103 Victims React With Skepticism to Settlement Offer


AP
Dec. 22, 1988: Pan Am 103 lies in a field after crashing near Lockerbie in Scotland.
Wednesday, May 29, 2002

TRENTON, N.J. — Families of those killed when a bomb exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, expressed emotions ranging from rage to skepticism to grudging acceptance of a $2.7 billion settlement offer from Libya.

Some said the offer, which would settle a 1996 lawsuit against the Libyan government and provide $10 million to each family, was politically motivated by Libya's efforts to get U.S. sanctions lifted. Others questioned the way the proposal was made public but said they would accept it.

"It's a business deal, not a compensation offer. It's contingent on how much Libya has to gain from the United States by the lifting of the sanctions," Daniel Cohen of Cape May Court House, N.J., said Wednesday. "It puts us in the position of being cheerleaders for (Moammar) Gadhafi."

Cohen's only child, Theodora, 20, a Syracuse University student, was among 270 people killed in the December 1988 bombing.

Meanwhile, the Libyan government denied Wednesday it had made the compensation offer, Reuters reported.


http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53942,00.html

Update:

Libyan Deal Possible Despite Denials

May 29, 2002

The Libyan government has distanced itself from a reported offer of USD$2.7 billion in compensation to the families of victims who died in the Pan Am 103 bombing fourteen years ago. An official statement said: "Libya has nothing to do with this so-called agreement and is not a party to it."

Despite the strong denial, it is thought some form of agreement may emerge in the near future and the United States hinted today that it might support the families if they decided to agree to a settlement which would see them paid around USD$10 million each.

The payments would be paid in stages as United Nations and US sanctions against the country were relaxed.

Libya acknowledged that talks had been held between businessmen and lawyers from both countries but said it had no official knowledge of any settlement.

As part of any sanctions deal Libya must admit responsibility for the bombing of Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. The death toll of 270 was made up of the 259 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 747, which was bound for New York, and 11 people killed on the ground.


Libyan Deal Possible Despite Denials

May 29, 2002

The Libyan government has distanced itself from a reported offer of USD$2.7 billion in compensation to the families of victims who died in the Pan Am 103 bombing fourteen years ago. An official statement said: "Libya has nothing to do with this so-called agreement and is not a party to it."

Despite the strong denial, it is thought some form of agreement may emerge in the near future and the United States hinted today that it might support the families if they decided to agree to a settlement which would see them paid around USD$10 million each.

The payments would be paid in stages as United Nations and US sanctions against the country were relaxed.

Libya acknowledged that talks had been held between businessmen and lawyers from both countries but said it had no official knowledge of any settlement.

As part of any sanctions deal Libya must admit responsibility for the bombing of Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. The death toll of 270 was made up of the 259 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 747, which was bound for New York, and 11 people killed on the ground.



http://news.airwise.com/stories/2002/05/1022695804.html

I will simply say that I feel for the families, but I object in the strongest way to any consideration being grated by our government, or any other government, to Lybia, particularly triggered by commercial rational. It takes a lot more than money to satisfy this obligation, if it can ever be forgiven.

Now, I feel somewhat better.

Cecil, I agree with you. This was a terrible tragedy. I am very sorry for the personal loss of your friends.

Barbara

Thank you Barbara. Like you, the pain is everpresent.