An appeal
to all Scots, of all
parties and none
The Midgie +
Islay McLeod’s Scotland
My short career
as a subversive
Scottish nationalist
John Cameron on welfare +
Gerard Rochford’s March poem
The damage to
an already fragile
relationship
The Cafe +
Bob Smith on the Oscars
‘I might be able to spare
you a couple of minutes,
but no more than that’
Gerry Hassan:
Seven wonders of Scotland
Our national narcotic is
doing so well that there’s no
need to send warships
Friends of SR:
We need your help
Kenneth Roy
We knew that Gauci – a witness so convincing that he was later described by Scotland’s lord advocate of the time as ‘an apple short of a picnic’ – had been paid by the US Department of Justice. There were rumours, too, about his brother Paul, who was motivated by a desire for financial gain but otherwise not directly connected to the events in Malta in December 1988. What we did not know until today was the extent to which the Scottish authorities were involved.
In this special edition, John Ashton quotes from a letter written by the senior investigating officer in Scotland making plain the police’s desire not only to reward the Gauci brothers but to seek the biggest bucks available.
There is no doubting the authenticity of this letter. Ashton has a copy of it.
There is also no doubting that without Gauci there was no case: Megrahi would have walked free.
Where do these revelations leave the reputation of Scottish justice?
Is this really the way we want to conduct our justice system?
12.45: Special Edition
The gathering scandal
The Scottish police
The Crown Office
The payouts
In this special edition
• We produce compelling evidence linking the Scottish authorities with a massive payment to the chief prosecution witness, without whose evidence – now discredited – Megrahi would never have been convicted
• How a second massive payment was negotiated for a member of the witness’s family, who, according to a secret police report, ‘had a clear desire to gain financial benefit’ from the case
• We show how the scale of the payments was actively discussed in Scotland and how it was hoped that the
Americans would agree to even more than the $3 million on the table
Click here for John Ashton’s damning revelations
