Libya never paid for Megrahi's medical advice: Scotland

Scotland has rejected allegations that its decision to free the Lockerbie bomber because he is terminally ill was based on medical advice from doctors paid by Libya.

The statement comes after The Sunday Telegraph reported that Libyan government paid for the medical evidence that suggested Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was eligible for compassionate release under Scottish law and that he had only three months to live.

Professor Karol Sikora, one of the three doctors who visited Megrahi, in an interview to the daily said, he had been approached by the Libyans and paid a one-day consultancy fee to draw up a report.

Sikora was initially "pessimistic" that the experts could say he would survive any less than a year.

But he admitted that the Libyans had encouraged him to conclude that Megrahi had just three months to live following his examination. "The figure of three months was suggested as being helpful (by the Libyans)," he said.

However, the Scottish government said the prognosis of the three doctors paid for by the Libyans -- two of whom are British -- came too late to affect Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to free Megrahi last month.

Drawing on expert advice from 'a number' of specialists for a clinical assessment of Megrahi's life expectancy, the director of Health and Care at SPS (Scottish Prison Service) concluded that a three month prognosis for the patient was a reasonable estimate, a spokesman for MacAskill said.

Megrahi is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a plane over the Scottish town of Lockerbie that killed 270 people.