Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond had raised concerns after reports that a £450m deal between oil giant UK nuclear plants to get backing ...
Libya's Gaddafi to visit France ... BP and Libya was linked to a transfer.

In a letter to the Herald newspaper, Mr Straw said such a move would be a matter for the Scottish Government.

Megrahi is serving life for killing 270 people in the 1988 bombing.

He was convicted in 2001 of blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

Mr Salmond spoke out on the issue after a newspaper said Libya had ratified a contract with BP, after Westminster ministers drafted a prisoner transfer agreement that it claimed could cover Megrahi.

The first minister described the report as "a very serious allegation", and said it was up to the UK Government to explain.

He pointed out Megrahi's case was under appeal and that the judicial process must be allowed to take its course.

Mr Straw stated: "No deal has been done with Libya for the transfer of al-Megrahi.

"The decision on whether or not a prisoner detained in a Scottish prison is transferred to another country is a matter for Scottish ministers, not the United Kingdom government."

He wrote that the UK Government had been "clear about this fact" from the outset.

He added that as part of the prisoner transfer agreement, an inmate could not be considered for transfer "until all outstanding legal proceedings in the sentencing state have been completed".

Anyone subject to an appeal cannot apply for transfer until the case had been heard, he said.

A row previously broke out between UK and Scottish ministers after former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi signed a memorandum of understanding on prisoner transfer.

Downing Street said at the time that the agreement did not cover Megrahi, but Mr Straw later said the fate of the bomber was a "matter for discussion" with Holyrood ministers.

(BBC)

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