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Malaysian Co. to Sell Some Businesses
A Malaysian oil-and-gas company whose subsidiary manufactured components for Libyaâs clandestine nuclear weapons program announced Friday it is selling some of its businesses, but did not say which ones. A wholly owned subsidiary, Scomi Precision Engineering Bhd., or SCOPE, was recently linked to a black market network that supplied Libya, Iran and North Korea with weapons-making technology. Scomi is controlled by Kamaluddin Abdullah, the only son of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.SCOPE manufactured some 25,000 centrifuge parts for enriching uranium that were seized last October en route to Libya. That operation uncovered a network led by Pakistanâs top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. Malaysian police cleared SCOPE of knowing the parts were bound for Libya, or intended for nuclear use. The company says it thought they were destined for the oil and gas industry in Dubai. Scomi built a factory to manufacture the parts between 2001 and 2003, but it said the deal âvalued at $3.42 million â amounted to a tiny fraction of its business. The deal was brokered by Buhary Abu Syed Tahir, a business associate of Kamaluddin who has been identified by President Bush as the chief financial officer of Khanâs network. Posted by: Fred 2004-03-19 |
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