The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) has insisted it has seen no evidence to question the original finding of an RAF board of inquiry that the Chinook helicopter crash in 1994 was caused by "pure negligence" by the two pilots.
An investigation into the crash by Computer Weekly claims the MOD covered up problems with the helicopter's engine control system. It also claims the MOD has failed to publish two key sections of an audit report responding to its allegations about weaknesses in the Chinook's Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system and an internal MOD memo expressing safety concerns about the Chinook six weeks before the crash.
Expressing his willingness to appeal to the MOD, and if necessary the parliamentary ombudsman, to force publication of the audit report, Mr Tony Collins, executive editor of Computer Weekly, said yesterday he could not understand why the MOD had refused to publish the report "other than to spare their blushes".
The MOD's insistence that there is no new evidence to warrant reopening the inquiry comes after the former Conservative defence secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, urged the MOD to withdraw its claim that the pilots were to blame or establish an independent public inquiry.
The Scottish National Party's shadow transport minister in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Kenny McAskill, has lodged a private member's motion asking the Scottish Executive to reopen the inquiry. He said if it appeared the MOD was involved in litigation in the US against the helicopter makers before the crash it should have been revealed to investigators.