For those looking in, there were 3 critical aspects to this case which resulted in the conviction of Megrahi. The other threads on this forum cover these aspects, but to summarize:
1. An unaccompanied bomb bag came from Malta as illustrated by Frankfurt airport worker Mrs Erac's printout. [http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155657]
2. The fragment of timer discovered around the Scottish border pointed the finger towards Libya and thus Megrahi. [http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153971]
3. The shop owner's recollection of the sale of clothes used in concealing the bomb and the purchaser 'resembled' Megrahi. [http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158909]
And, as the saying goes, that's all folks. No evidence that Megrahi ever bought this timer. No evidence of Megrahi with the semtex used in making the bomb, and despite over 10 years of investigating, no evidence whatsoever of how Megrahi actually placed the suitcase on the Air Malta flight which then wound it's way around 3 airport security systems and onto 103 at Heathrow. This accusation and evidence presented was so weak that his accomplice in Malta, and co-accused at Zeist, was immediately acquitted of all charges.
1. As the other thread on this forum demonstrates, the were some odd circumstances surrounding the production of Mrs Erac's printout from Frankfurt Airport, when consideration is given to the aspect that no other records from Frankfurt were recovered - or at least disclosed. Mrs Erac's story of how this came to be the only document purporting to show an unaccompanied bag from a baggage station collecting Air Malta luggage - and according to prosecutors, the bomb bag - and then finding it's way onto the PanAm feeder flight have been challenged in some respects. We know initial reports in Germany wrongly stated it was a flight from Frankfurt that had crashed over Lockerbie, which you would therefore expect, naturally, law and security officials to spring into action. Aside from the inaccurate first reports of the crash originating in Germany, Frankfurt was also on high alert for an attempt of sabotage on a aircraft from other investigations in the weeks proceeding 21st Dec 1988. So why was Mrs Erac's record the only document recovered from an airport prepared for a possible airline attack, and why wasn't the bag noticed by airport baggage examiners warned beforehand to look out for bombs contained in Toshiba radios?
2. The timer fragment, it's discovery, it's identification and the chain of records pertaining to it, are also subject to some dispute. As a result, the integrity of the timer fragment itself is questioned, together with the knowledge that the three main 'expert' and 'scientific' protagonists in discovering and identifying the 'fragment' have all been, subsequent to the Lockerbie investigation, discredited in other unrelated work associated with forensic evidence brought to court. Despite repeated denials over the years, and claims that this vital piece of evidence did not leave the UK mainland due to it's critical importance, it has recently been confirmed that this fragment had indeed been examined by various people in various countries outside the UK.
3. The clothes that were contained around the bomb that brought down 103, were recovered and identified as being from a small shop in Sliema, Malta. The shop owner provided many statements to the investigators, including many differing descriptions of the buyer, and some additional information including Christmas lights in the town and weather on the day the purchase was made. However, the shop owner Tony Gauci was recollecting a purchase nine months earlier, so perhaps vague and inconsistent recollections are inevitable. However, despite all these discrepancies, his testimony was accepted by the court and indeed became the main foundation for the bomb originating in Malta and constructed by Megrahi. In 2007 the SCCRC concluded that in it's finding that Megrahi case should be sent to appeal, it had also uncovered evidence that the Maltese shopkeeper had received substantial 'compensation' for his testimony at Zeist further undermining this aspect to the case and investigation.
There are a plethora of other areas which could be decreed as having some significance to the Lockerbie bombing including : CIA, drugs, arms dealers, double-agents, triple agents, Lebanon hostages, South African Apartheid, UN officials, MI6, undisclosed evidence, warnings, tampering of evidence, Bollier and the Swiss timer, duped drugs mule, Iran revenge, paid witnesses and freed terrorists. However, the main critical areas as detailed above, should be of primary concern to everyone, as that was the basis for forming the indictment, and ultimately, the conviction of Megrahi who was incarcerated for 9 years before being released on compassionate grounds.
1. An unaccompanied bomb bag came from Malta as illustrated by Frankfurt airport worker Mrs Erac's printout. [http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155657]
2. The fragment of timer discovered around the Scottish border pointed the finger towards Libya and thus Megrahi. [http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153971]
3. The shop owner's recollection of the sale of clothes used in concealing the bomb and the purchaser 'resembled' Megrahi. [http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158909]
And, as the saying goes, that's all folks. No evidence that Megrahi ever bought this timer. No evidence of Megrahi with the semtex used in making the bomb, and despite over 10 years of investigating, no evidence whatsoever of how Megrahi actually placed the suitcase on the Air Malta flight which then wound it's way around 3 airport security systems and onto 103 at Heathrow. This accusation and evidence presented was so weak that his accomplice in Malta, and co-accused at Zeist, was immediately acquitted of all charges.
1. As the other thread on this forum demonstrates, the were some odd circumstances surrounding the production of Mrs Erac's printout from Frankfurt Airport, when consideration is given to the aspect that no other records from Frankfurt were recovered - or at least disclosed. Mrs Erac's story of how this came to be the only document purporting to show an unaccompanied bag from a baggage station collecting Air Malta luggage - and according to prosecutors, the bomb bag - and then finding it's way onto the PanAm feeder flight have been challenged in some respects. We know initial reports in Germany wrongly stated it was a flight from Frankfurt that had crashed over Lockerbie, which you would therefore expect, naturally, law and security officials to spring into action. Aside from the inaccurate first reports of the crash originating in Germany, Frankfurt was also on high alert for an attempt of sabotage on a aircraft from other investigations in the weeks proceeding 21st Dec 1988. So why was Mrs Erac's record the only document recovered from an airport prepared for a possible airline attack, and why wasn't the bag noticed by airport baggage examiners warned beforehand to look out for bombs contained in Toshiba radios?
2. The timer fragment, it's discovery, it's identification and the chain of records pertaining to it, are also subject to some dispute. As a result, the integrity of the timer fragment itself is questioned, together with the knowledge that the three main 'expert' and 'scientific' protagonists in discovering and identifying the 'fragment' have all been, subsequent to the Lockerbie investigation, discredited in other unrelated work associated with forensic evidence brought to court. Despite repeated denials over the years, and claims that this vital piece of evidence did not leave the UK mainland due to it's critical importance, it has recently been confirmed that this fragment had indeed been examined by various people in various countries outside the UK.
3. The clothes that were contained around the bomb that brought down 103, were recovered and identified as being from a small shop in Sliema, Malta. The shop owner provided many statements to the investigators, including many differing descriptions of the buyer, and some additional information including Christmas lights in the town and weather on the day the purchase was made. However, the shop owner Tony Gauci was recollecting a purchase nine months earlier, so perhaps vague and inconsistent recollections are inevitable. However, despite all these discrepancies, his testimony was accepted by the court and indeed became the main foundation for the bomb originating in Malta and constructed by Megrahi. In 2007 the SCCRC concluded that in it's finding that Megrahi case should be sent to appeal, it had also uncovered evidence that the Maltese shopkeeper had received substantial 'compensation' for his testimony at Zeist further undermining this aspect to the case and investigation.
There are a plethora of other areas which could be decreed as having some significance to the Lockerbie bombing including : CIA, drugs, arms dealers, double-agents, triple agents, Lebanon hostages, South African Apartheid, UN officials, MI6, undisclosed evidence, warnings, tampering of evidence, Bollier and the Swiss timer, duped drugs mule, Iran revenge, paid witnesses and freed terrorists. However, the main critical areas as detailed above, should be of primary concern to everyone, as that was the basis for forming the indictment, and ultimately, the conviction of Megrahi who was incarcerated for 9 years before being released on compassionate grounds.
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