Libya denied yesterday that it had made any offer of compensation to families of those killed in the Lockerbie airliner bombing.
"Libya has nothing to do with this so-called agreement and is not a party to it," an official statement said.
A New York law firm said on Tuesday that Libya was ready to offer victims' families a total of $2.7 billion in compensation, or $10 million for each of those killed. They died when Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988.
Last year, a Scottish court convicted Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi of murder for planting the device on board.
The Libyan statement added: "According to our information, Libyan businessmen and lawyers have had talks with the lawyer of the families of the victims, but have not informed us officially of the results of these meetings."
It said that "the contacts made with the families of the victims only concern the group of lawyers who volunteered to defend Megrahi".
Earlier yesterday, relatives of British victims of the Lockerbie bombing gave mixed reactions to the reports of a Libyan compensation deal, according to the Foreign Office.
It said the offer would be discussed at a meeting in London.
"We are planning such a meeting in June," a Foreign Office spokesman told AFP, although he would not confirm the June 6th date mentioned in reports.
Mr David Ben-Aryeah, a spokesman for some of the families, said he was deeply suspicious of the offer.
(AFP)