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BP may face probe over bomber's release
By Jesse Solomon, CNN
July 13, 2010 6:15 a.m. EDT
...BP, which plans to begin offshore drilling in Libya in the coming months, touted the 2007 oil agreement as "the single biggest exploration financial commitment an international energy company has ever made to Libya," according to the company's website.
The troubled oil giant stands to earn as much as $20 billion from the deal, according to Lautenberg.
Megrahi, who only served eight years of his life sentence for the bombing, was released by a Scottish court on "compassionate" grounds, citing a doctor's opinion at the time that he was dying from prostate cancer and had only three months to live.
In a letter to the British government last week, Lautenberg was joined by Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer of New York and Bob Menendez of New Jersey in calling the validity of such a prognosis into question.
"Mr. Al Megrahi is still alive and reportedly living in luxury," the letter said. "The doctor responsible for the key medical opinion has told the media that not only could Mr. Al Megrahi live another 10 years, but that the Libyan government had commissioned the doctor to make his assessment."
In response, the British Embassy in Washington posted a letter on its website from the British ambassador to Gillibrand on defending Megrahi's release.
"The decision to grant Mr. Megrahi's compassionate release was made on the basis of advice from the Director of Health at the Scottish Prison Service, who drew on the advice of a number of medical experts," the ambassador said...