LONDON (Dow Jones)--Scotland's Justice Secretary has denied oil major BP PLC (BP) had any influence on his decision to release the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, but said "legitimate questions" remained over the U.K. government's dealings with Libya. Speaking on Sky News television, Kenny MacAskill said he has "had no communications with nor have I met with BP," amid lingering suspicion, particularly amongst some U.S. politicians, that the oil major sought a prisoner-transfer agreement at a time when the U.K. was seeking to revive its commercial relationship with Libya. "My decision was based on compassionate release," MacAskill said. "I rejected the prisoner-transfer agreement because there was something murky that may or may not have happened in the desert [between the U.K. and Libyan government]. "There are legitimate questions as to what was going on and why--the U.S. is entitled to pursue that and the U.K. government has an obligation to answer," MacAskill said. Megrahi, who was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, was released in August 2009 and returned to Libya. Website: http://news.sky.com/skynews -London bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 78 42 9330; generaldesklondon@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 21, 2010 04:03 ET (08:03 GMT)