To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland for what reasons a spokesman for the Scottish Law Officers stated on Monday 7 July that the allegations in the Der Spiegel magazine about the Lockerbie bombing having been commissioned by the Ayatollah were the first occasion that the Office had been advised of such an allegation; and if he will make a statement. [7793]

The statement issued by the Crown Office was to the effect that this was the first time that they had been made aware of these allegations, namely the allegations which were being made by a person named as Abolghasem Mesbabi which had been reported in Der Spiegel magazine.