Britain has dismissed suggestions of a commercial motive behind the release in Scotland of a former Libyan agent from a life sentence for the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people.
"The idea that the British government, the Libyan government, would sit down and somehow barter over the freedom or the life of this Libyan prisoner and make it all part of some business deal ... it's not only wrong, it's completely implausible and actually quite offensive," British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said.
London and Washington have roundly condemned the "hero's welcome" given in Libyaa to the dying Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on his return home.
Meeting Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and his family last night, Col Gadafy thanked Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Queen Elizabeth for "encouraging" Scotland to release the dying prisoner from a Scottish jail, Libyan news agency JANA reported.
After receiving a warm embrace from Col Gadafy, Megrahi bent forward and kissed the leader's hand, TV images showed.
"This step is in the interest of relations between the two countries ... and of the personal friendship between me and them and will be positively reflected for sure in all areas of cooperation between the two countries," the Libyan leader said.
Mr Mandelson said he had met Gaddafi's son twice in the past year and the issue of the Lockerbie bomber had been raised both times, but his release was not tied to business deals.
"It's not only completely wrong to make any such suggestion or insinuation, it's also quite offensive," he told reporters.
In Washington, FBI director Robert Mueller released an angry letter he sent to the Scottish minister, Kenny MacAskill, who ordered the release.
Mr Mueller called the decision inexplicable and detrimental to justice. "Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world," Mr Mueller wrote in the letter posted on the FBI's website.
The Conservative parties said Mr Brown had 'serious questions' to answer after Col Gadafy's son, Saif, claimed that he had personally made Megrahi's freedom a condition in negotiations of potential energy trade deals.
The comments drew a flat denial from the Foreign Office that the release was in any way linked to business deals with Libya, which has Africa's largest proven oil reserves. It said all responsibility for his release rested with Scotland, which runs its own judicial affairs.
"There is no deal - all decisions relating to Megrahi's case have been exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland and the Scottish judicial authorities," a spokesman for the Foreign Office said. "No deal has been made between the UK government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests."
Scotland's government on Thursday released Megrahi from a life sentence for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland because he has terminal prostate cancer.
"At this hour, I want to send a message to our friends in Scotland, the Scottish National Party and the first minister of Scotland, to congratulate them for their bravery," JANA quoted Col Gadafy as saying. "Despite the unacceptable and illogical pressures against them, they took this humanitarian and brave decision."
More than 1,000 young Libyans gathered at an airport in Tripoli on Thursday to welcome Megrahi home, cheering and waving national flags, images that angered Washington and London.
Megrahi promised in an interview with the London Timesnewspaper published today that he would present new evidence before he died exonerating him of the bombing. He dismissed the international furore over his release, saying President Barack Obama should know he would not be doing anything apart from going to hospital and waiting to die. Doctors say he may have less than three months to live.
"My message to the British and Scottish communities is that I will put out the evidence (to exonerate me) and ask them to be the jury," Megrahi, sentenced in 2001, said without elaborating.
"(Obama) knows I'm a very ill person," said Megrahi. "The only place I have to go is the hospital for medical treatment. I'm not interested in going anywhere else. Don't worry, Mr Obama - it's just three months (until I die)."
Relatives of many of the Americans who died in the Lockerbie attack have voiced disgust at Megrahi's release and his reception back in Tripoli.
European governments including Britain's are lobbying hard for business in Libya as it emerges from years of sanctions. Oil companies such as BP and Shell are among several British firms hoping to make big profits in the desert country.
Reuters