Tory peer and leading Scots lawyer at the centre of Megrahi cash row

A PROMINENT Scottish lawyer is embroiled in a row over a request for almost £1 million in legal fees as part of efforts to help free the Lockerbie bomber.

Muammar al-Gaddafi’s fugitive son Saif al-Islam was lobbied to help secure the payment for work done by Professor Robert Black and Conservative peer Lord Trefgarne.

Prof Black was a key architect of the Lockerbie trial held under Scots law in the Netherlands, but has since become a vocal campaigner for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi’s release.

The QC, a professor emeritus of Scots law at Edinburgh University, had joined Lord Trefgarne, a former trade minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government, in providing political and legal expertise.

Details of a claim for “fees owed” for advice to the Libyans ahead of Megrahi’s appeal case were reportedly uncovered in an abandoned farmhouse in the outskirts of Tripoli.

Prof Black and Lord Trefgarne said the arrangement was “entirely proper” in a statement, and that the peer had even declared it in the House of Lords.

A letter, on House of Lords notepaper and dated 4 June 2007, to Saif – who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity – referred to a meeting in Britain.

The note from Lord Trefgarne said while the £940,000 fee “may seem a large sum” it covered “nine years’ work”.

“During the course of our conversations in London, I ventured to draw your attention to the problem being experienced by Professor Robert Black and myself in relation to fees owed over a considerable number of years,” the letter said.

“The amount now owing following a small payment on account is $1.5m [US]. This may seem a large sum but in fact represents nine years’ remuneration, no less, for two senior professionals and is measurably below, we are told, the hourly/daily rates paid to some others.

“Professor Black and I would be very grateful for your advice on this matter.”

Lord Trefgarne had pressed the Scottish Government to free Megrahi on humanitarian grounds in his role as chairman of the Libyan British Business Council.

In a joint statement, Lord Trefgarne and Prof Black said that in 1993 they began working towards unblocking the “impasse” that was preventing Megrahi’s trial taking place because Libya refused to extradite him to Scotland or the United States.

The statement added: “Over the course of the next six years, Lord Trefgarne and Professor Black worked strenuously to secure acceptance of the neutral venue scheme that Professor Black formulated in early 1994.

“No payment was sought or received for these endeavours. It was only after Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi’s conviction at Zeist in January 2001 and Professor Black had publicly expressed the strong view that that conviction was legally unwarranted, that an agreement was entered into with his lawyer, Dr Ibrahim Legwell, that Lord Trefgarne and Professor Black should receive payment for future political and legal advice on avenues of appeal. In the event, the only sum actually paid barely covered expenses. Lord Trefgarne and Professor Black again emphasise that this was an entirely proper arrangement reflecting the circumstances of the time.

“Lord Trefgarne did declare this matter in the House of Lords Register in accordance with the rules then in force.”

But Dumfries & Galloway Labour MP Russell Brown said the public would be “surprised” to hear of Lord Trefgarne’s claim.

“Lord Trefgarne was one of the people who lobbied the SNP to release the Lockerbie bomber just days before Kenny MacAskill visited the terrorist in jail,” he said.

“Now it seems he was in the pay of the Libyans.”