'Sick and old' Koussa has nothing to say on Lockerbie, claims son of Gaddafi

Published on Tuesday 5 April 2011 14:25

THE son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi says Libya's foreign minister Moussa Koussa defected for health reasons and has no new information to offer UK authorities questioning him about the Lockerbie bombing.

British officials are encouraging Mr Koussa, who resigned from Gaddafi's government and fled to the UK last week, to answer questions from Scottish prosecutors about the terrorist atrocity.

Gaddafi's son, the British-educated Saif al-Islam, repeatedly called Mr Koussa "sick and old" in an interview with the BBC, suggesting he might resort to making up "funny stories" about Lockerbie in exchange for immunity.

He said: "The British and the Americans they know about Lockerbie. There are no secrets anymore.

"We have no secrets to the world."

UK police and prosecutors said steps are being taken to arrange the appointment "in the next few days".

Scottish investigators are expected to question him over the bombing after discussions with Foreign Office officials on Monday.

However, speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Foreign Secretary William Hague made it clear that Mr Koussa would not be detained or forced by the UK government to talk to investigators against his will.

"Moussa Koussa is not being offered any immunity from British or international justice," he said. "He is not detained by us and has taken part in discussions with officials since his arrival, of his own free will.

Mr Koussa was head of Gaddafi's feared intelligence agency from 1994 and was a senior intelligence agent when PanAm flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, killing 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents.

Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for mass murder in 2001 but was returned to Tripoli in 2009 on compassionate grounds after doctors treating him for prostate cancer gave him an estimated three months to live.

As well as the Lockerbie bombing, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has led calls for Mr Koussa to be quizzed in relation to the murder of Pc Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot during a protest outside London's Libyan Embassy in 1984.