Justice Committee to consider Justice for Megrahi petition on 4 June

[The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee will be considering Justice for Megrahi’s petition (PE 1370) calling on the Scottish Government to institute an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie investigation, prosecution and conviction at its meeting on Tuesday, 4 June at 09.45 in Committee Room 2 (agenda item 5). The proceedings will be viewable here. Members of the Justice for Megrahi campaign group will be present at the meeting (but not me: I'll be wending my way back from the Roggeveld Karoo to Edinburgh). 

A paper by the Justice Committee’s clerk reads as follows:]

Background

1. Petition PE1370 by Justice for Megrahi (JFM) calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to open an independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp van Zeist conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988.

2. The petition was lodged on 1 November 2010. The petition was carried over to Session 4 and on 28 June 2011, the new Public Petitions Committee referred it to the Justice Committee for further consideration.

3. The Justice Committee last considered the petition at its meeting on 11 December 2012 where it agreed to keep the petition open pending allegations against the Crown Office and the police being investigated. 

Recent Submissions

4. The petitioners have provided the Committee with an update on the complaints they have raised against the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the police. The published versions are attached to this paper as an Annexe. Clerks have circulated the unredacted submissions to the Committee.

5. JFM’s submissions give accounts of their recent interaction and correspondence with the Scottish Government, COPFS and the police.

Justice Directorate of the Scottish Government

6. JFM believes that without an independent inquiry into their allegations, there is a conflict of interest where Police Scotland and COPFS are investigating complaints against themselves.

7. JFM’s submissions indicate that it has asked for an independent investigator to be appointed to look into their allegations against the COPFS and police. It believes that the Scottish Government has powers, under the Inquiries Act 2005, to appoint an independent investigator.

8. The Committee is asked by JFM to write to the Scottish Government to ascertain whether it accepts JFM’s assertion that it has the powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 (or any other Act or common law) to appoint an independent investigator and, if so, whether it would be willing to do so to investigate JFM’s allegations.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

9. JFM also has expressed concerns about how it has been portrayed in the press by the Lord Advocate while considerations of their allegations were being considered.

10. JFM requests that the Committee writes to COPFS to ask for comment or further information on the following points:

a. whether it will account for the public criticism of JFM when a

police investigation of their allegations were imminent;

b. what resources have been allocated to the investigation of JFM’s

allegations;

c. whether it will keep JFM informed of developments in the

investigation of their allegations; and

d. whether it has instructed the police on how to proceed with the

investigation into JFM’s allegations.

11. If the Committee agrees to write to COPFS, it is invited to consider whether it wishes to raise all or only some of the above points with COPFS. 

Police

12. JFM’s allegations are being taken forward by the police and investigations are ongoing. Supplement 1 (pages 9 and 10 of this paper) to the petitioners’ submission gives an account of a meeting with former Chief Constable Shearer, who is heading up the investigation for Police Scotland. 

Possible options for action

13. The Committee is invited to consider the petition and agree a course of action:

a. whether to keep the petition open or not;

b. whether to write to the Scottish Government on behalf of the petitioners asking for comments on its powers to appoint an independent investigator into JFM’s allegations; and

c. whether to write to COPFS on behalf of the petitioners and in what terms to do so.

[A Justice for Megrahi press release issued today contains the following:]

The petition should  be considered at approximately mid-day. Dr Jim Swire, Robert Forrester, Iain McKie, Tessa Ransford OBE, James Robertson and other members of the  ‘Justice for Megrahi’ Committee and its signatory membership will attend the meeting and will be  available for interview in the Parliament’s main reception area after the meeting. 

Justice for Megrahi in their most recent submission to the Justice Committee in respect of petition PE 1370, state:

‘The manner in which the Justice Directorate and the Crown Office are currently dealing with our entreaties is something which ought to be of deep concern to anyone who today falls under Scottish jurisdiction. We believe that the Justice Committee members understand that it is not the allegations themselves that is their direct concern but the arrogant, prejudicial and unaccountable manner in which they are being dealt with. We believe it is the committee’s duty to ensure that issues of confidentiality, public officials acting in their own interests, prejudgment of our allegations and the maintenance of equity and accountability are examined. Only the Justice Committee can protect the public interest when complainers like ourselves are subjected to such oppressive conduct at the hands of the state.’