.
Documents Reveal: Tony Blair and Col Gaddafi’s secret meetings
(Sunday Telegraph) – The letter, written on June 2, 2008, was sent to Omar Jelban, Libya’s ambassador to Britain. It was written by Gavin Mackay, who was based at Mr Blair’s London office in Grosvenor Square, and stated: “Let me begin my [sic] saying that Mr Blair is delighted that The Leader is likely to be able to see him during the afternoon of 10 June and he is most grateful that the Libyan authorities have kindly offered an aircraft to take him from Freetown to Tripoli and back to London.”
The letter continues: “In addition to a call on The Leader, he [Blair] would welcome the opportunity to have a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Assistant Secretary Dr Abd-al-Hafid Mahm-jud al-Zulaytini, who he has met in the past.” Mr Zulaytini was one of Libya’s most powerful men and a former chairman of the state-owned National Oil Company.
« click for Libyan oil interests
Details of the 2009 meeting are contained in an exchange of emails between Victoria Gould, who was Mr Blair’s events organiser, and Sir Vincent Fean, the former British ambassador to Libya. The correspondence shows Tim Collins, a billionaire friend of Mr Blair, attended the meeting with Gaddafi.
Mid-East Envoy – Office of the Quartet Representative
Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, said: “Mr Blair is clearly using his Downing Street contacts to further his business interests.”
The meetings took place at a time of intense negotiations with Gaddafi’s regime over the release of Megrahi, convicted of murdering 270 people in the single biggest terrorist atrocity committed in Britain.
The emails and letters – between Mr Blair’s office, the British ambassador in Tripoli and the Libyan ambassador in London – raise concern over possible conflicts of interest regarding his varied roles as Middle East peace envoy, philanthropist and business consultant.
The documents will also add fuel to suggestions made last year by Gaddafi’s son, Saif, that Mr Blair had advisory links to the Libyan government and the Libyan Investment Authority, which controls a £41 billion fund.
Mr Blair has categorically denied the connection.
The documents outline arrangements for the trips in 2008 and 2009. Mr Blair also held a further private meeting with Gaddafi in June 2010 after Megrahi’s release. In both 2008 and 2009, the documents show Mr Blair negotiated to fly to the Libyan capital from Sierra Leone, in a jet provided by Gaddafi.
The first letter was sent on notepaper headed Office of the Quartet Representative, Mr Blair’s title as a Middle East peace envoy, which he took up after resigning as prime minister in June 2007.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
