Miss de Larracoechea said she believed there has effectively been a
cover-up over the bombing by various intelligence agencies, saying: "It's
just not convenient to look into what really happened." 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/1600588.stm

Monday, 15 October, 2001, 14:51 GMT 15:51 UK 
Relative's doubts over Lockerbie case

Miss de Larracoechea said there has been a cover-up

By BBC Scotland's James Cook and Murray Cox 
The sister of a victim of the Lockerbie bombing has said she is "not
convinced" the man convicted of it carried out the attack. 

Marina de Larracoechea, whose sister Maria died in the outrage, on Monday
demanded an independent review of the case. 

Miss de Larracoechea asked the five judges at the Scottish court in the
Netherlands, due to hear an appeal by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, to
look at the evidence gathered. 

Her request was dismissed by the panel which said it was only able to hear
Al Megrahi's appeal against his conviction. 

Al Megrahi was convicted, in January this year, of mass murder over the
bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, with the loss of 270
lives. 

Forty-nine-year-old Al Megrahi's co-accused Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah was
acquitted at the same time by the court, specially convened at Camp Zeist
in the Netherlands. 

However, Miss de Larracoechea, speaking to BBC Scotland, said she was not
satisfied with either Al Megrahi's conviction or the evidence which was
heard in court. 

And she said the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General
Command could have been responsible. 

She said: "I didn't see enough in the trial to convince me that he did it,
but I think the defence should have gone further in making the case. But,
as I said, what I saw didn't convince me." 

Asked who she believed was responsible she said: "I think it goes back to
the PFLP-GC and the original scenario. I think it's simpler, and I think
it's what was there originally. It's very possible that things have not
been fully presented." 

Miss de Larracoechea said she believed there has effectively been a
cover-up over the bombing by various intelligence agencies, saying: "It's
just not convenient to look into what really happened." 

She said: "I think the main problems for us, for the victims and us the
relatives, is the relevant intelligence gathered prior, the credibility
and the specificity of this intelligence, the fact that it was evaluated
seriously, that it was used to benefit and save the lives of government
employees and yet these agencies, who have the duty to gather intelligence
and act upon it, the duty to care, they didn't do anything for the public
and I think that is where the real responsibilities lie." 

Asked whether there should be a public inquiry in an effort to draw out
that intelligence, she said: "I had hoped that we could have done much
faster than really, considering the absurdity of going into a public
inquiry 15 years after where we'll probably all be ga-ga if we are still
alive and the chances of getting to any fresh or important evidence has
been taken care of a long time ago. 

"I mean the essence of a good investigation is that you get your hands on
it as soon as possible. 

"Not 15 years after, 15 years after in this process with the most colossal
investigation of the 20th century is a victimisation of the relatives of
the victims." 

She added: "We are victims of the way this case is being handled." 

Miss de Larracoechea said she believed there had been widespread political
interference in the case from the outset. 

That interference, she said, came from London, Washington and Germany. 

She said: "In an international, geopolitical situation with many agendas
and it changes, it varies. But at the corner of the Pan Am 103 I think
there is no doubt that there is the United States, England and Germany." 

Miss de Larracoechea added that despite her reservations about the way the
case has been handled, she remains determined to see justice done. 

"We'll keep trying," she said, "that is all I can say, but I think this is
an unduly lengthy process of getting to the truth. I mean, 13 years, it's
a long time, but we'll keep trying."