The Libyan government has denied it had offered $2.7 billion to compensate families of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner attack as part of a deal to ease sanctions against it.
State-run Jana news agency, monitored by the London-based BBC, quoted a Libyan spokesman as saying: "Libya is not part of this issue ... As far as the Libyan state is concerned, it has not been accused in this issue ... and it has nothing to do with any accords."
It quoted the spokesman as saying that all Libya knew was that Libyan businessmen, joined by legal experts, held meetings with families of the victims and did not inform Libya officially of the outcome.
A New York law firm said earlier that Libya offered $2.7 billion to compensate families of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 - but US and UN sanctions against Libya must be lifted first.
In a letter sent to Lockerbie victims' families, the firm of Kreindler and Kreindler said Libya would automatically release the money - $10 million for each of the 270 families - in batches from an escrow account as conditions were met.