Libya is expected to admit blame for the Lockerbie bombing next week and so pave the way for compensation payments to victims' relatives, it was reported today.
Lawyers hope to establish a third-party account in Switzerland's Bank of International Settlements in the next few days ready to deposit €6 million to families of the 270 people killed in the 1988 attack, according to the Washington Post.
Libyan diplomats will then notify the United Nations Security Council on August 14th that the country was responsible for bringing down the Pan Am jumbo jet.
The confession would allow the UN to formally lift economic sanctions against Libya.
Compensation payments would follow in instalments, the news paper reported. The first €2.4 million would be given to each family once the UN sanctions are ended, it said.
A further €2.4 million would be delivered once US sanctions were lifted, with the final €1.2 million payments to be made if the US State Department removes Libya from its list of states that support terrorism.
Mr Dan Cohen, whose only daughter died aboard the Pan Am plane, said he and his wife Susan will accept their share of the money if Libya takes responsibility but opposed ending US sanctions against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
"We're not happy with the idea that one of these days we're going to be sending tourists to sit at the feet of Gaddafi," he said.
"The United States should have nothing to do with this country so long as that regime exists. Period".