Former Tourism Minister Michael Refalo said today that the way how the investigations ahead of the Lockerbie trial were conducted had led him to believe, early on, that there were people who did not want the process to reach its proper conclusion.

Dr Refalo recalled how his evidence, which contradicted evidence by Tony Gauci, was ignored. Mr Gauci had said, for example, that the Christmas lights were on whereas his diary entry showed how he had, as Tourism Minister, switched them on at a later date.

At one time, the investigators told him they could not question him earlier because they could not find him - even though he was a Cabinet Minister and thus easily traced.

Then he was told in 2008 that his evidence was lost.

Dr Refalo said he kept a copy of the evidence, but the investigators still wanted to hear the evidence all over again.

All these goings on led him to wonder about conspiracy theories, more so as the type of bomb used to down the Pan Am airliner was not supplied to Libya, but to Iran. 

The Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission showed how Megrahi should have actually been acquitted.

Dr Refalo said that now that the Lockerbie findings had been discredited, especially where Malta was concerned, the government should not seek to reopen the case in any way.

See Dr Refalo's comments below.