Trial potentially flawed because of possible false testimony, Scottish commission says

Six years ago, a Libyan man was identified as the buyer of several articles of clothing from a Maltese shop and convicted in connection with Britain's bloodiest terrorist attack.

But yesterday, Scottish authorities cast doubt on Abdel Basset al-Megrahi's connection to the clothes that were purchased in Malta in early December of 1988, and subsequently wrapped over plastic explosives, placed in a briefcase and transferred into the underbelly of a Pan Am Clipper heading to New York from London.

Shortly after take-off, the package exploded, dropping the Boeing 747 and its 259 passengers from the sky and into the streets of Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all on board as well as 11 Lockerbie residents. Conspiracy theorists have long questioned Mr. Megrahi's connection to the explosion that brought Pan Am Flight 103 down over the sleepy Scottish town four days before Christmas.

Allegations of evidence tampering, withholding of vital documents and distortion of the truth in the case, which landed the Libyan behind bars, were submitted to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in 400 pages of documents by Mr. Megrahi's lawyers.

Yesterday, after a nearly four-year investigation, the commission transferred Mr. Megrahi's case, along with a report, to Edinburgh's High Court, with a request for an appeal hearing.

In it, the commission identified six grounds where "a miscarriage of justice may have occurred" in Mr. Megrahi's conviction, including doubts that he was the man who had indeed purchased the clothing that covered the bomb in the briefcase.

In a statement, the commission said it had found "no basis for concluding that evidence in the case was fabricated by the police, the Crown, forensic scientists or any other representatives of official bodies or government agencies."

But it did say the 2001 trial that occurred in the Netherlands and led to Mr. Megrahi's imprisonment was potentially flawed, not because of a conspiracy or cover-up, but because of a single human witness who may have given false testimony.

In his trial, Mr. Megrahi was identified by Tony Gauci, then owner of a small shop in Sliema, Malta, as having purchased clothes on Dec. 7, 1988, that, according to the Crown, were the clothes that later accompanied the bomb.

Mr. Gauci's testimony has long been in question after he first identified another man who had entered his shop as having purchased the clothes and later contradicted his evidence about what individual items he had sold.

At the time of the trial, the defence did not know the shopkeeper had seen Mr. Megrahi's image in a magazine article linking him to the bombing prior to identifying him as a patron of his shop.

New evidence indicated that while Mr. Megrahi had been in Malta on Dec. 7, 1988, the clothes linked to the bomb had been bought before Dec. 6, 1988, when there was no evidence that he was there.

As a result, the commission found there was no "reasonable basis" for the court's conclusion that Mr. Megrahi was the purchaser of the clothes.

Mr. Megrahi has long asserted that he never met the shopkeeper.

While Mr. Gauci's testimony was crucial to the conviction, Mr. Megrahi was also linked to the bomb through a tiny fragment of circuit board - the circumstances surrounding the discovery of which remain hazy - said to have come from the detonator.

At the trial, that circuit board was traced to a Swiss electronics manufacturer and acquaintance of Mr. Megrahi.

Some conspiracy theorists have suggested the circuit board was fabricated or tampered with by unofficial CIA involvement, but the review commission said it found no evidence to suggest that.

After reviewing the new evidence, the chairman of the commission, Graham Forbes, said the commission's view was that: "Some of what we have discovered may imply innocence; some of what we have discovered may imply guilt. However, such matters are for a court to decide."

Mr. Megrahi has long proclaimed his innocence and his lawyer suggested yesterday he could apply for bail before the end of the year.

Credit: SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

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