The hotly disputed transfer agreement which could see Abdelbaset Ali Mohmad Al Megrahi returned to Libya has been signed virtually in secret, being excluded from the official news release.

An oblique reference is made in an undernote for editors, which omits any reference to Megrahi or the Lockerbie airliner disaster, despite Megrahi being understood to be the only Libyan in custody in the UK.

The agreement, apparently brokered face to face between Tony Blair and Colonel Gadaffi provoked a cross border dispute when Alex Salmond and the SNP accused Westminster of interfering in a Scottish judicial matter.

A news release from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office states that five bilateral agreements have been signed between Britain and Libya, but makes no mention of what they are.

The undernote to editors states only that "The United Kingdom will sign four judicial agreements with Libya today on prisoner transfer, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, mutual legal assistance in civil and commercial matters, and extradition following a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Tony Blair and Colonel Qadhafi in May 2007."

It adds, " The Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) allows the return of a prisoner to serve out his sentence in his home country where both jurisdictions are in agreement. Prisoners do not have an automatic right to transfer; the consent of the authorities in both states is required before transfer can take place.2

"No individual can be transferred under the PTA signed today until all criminal proceedings in relation to that individual have been exhausted."

The news release reads in full:

"Mr Rammell and his Libyan counterpart will today conclude a set of bilateral judicial agreements agreed under a 2007 Memorandum of Understanding. A Double Taxation Convention will also be signed. Mr Rammell said:

“I will today sign four bilateral agreements with my Libyan counterpart, Abdulatti al-Obidi, which will strengthen our judicial ties, as agreed during Tony Blair’s visit to Libya in May last year. In addition, we are signing today a Double Taxation Convention which will bring benefits to British business in Libya and Libyan investors in the UK - benefits in terms of certainty, clarity and transparency and reducing tax compliance burdens. We are also in the final stages of negotiating an agreement to protect and promote investment.

“UK/Libya relations have significantly improved in recent years, following Libya’s voluntary renunciation of WMD. Today we are partners in the UN Security Council. We also wish to assist Libya to establish closer relations with the European Union to continue and strengthen the reintegration of Libya within the international community. We therefore support the commencement of negotiations between Libya and the EU on a framework agreement which should cover a range of issues including political, social, economic, commercial and cultural relations between the EU and Libya.”