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| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysia: "We Ain’t Arresting Tahir" |
| 2004-02-12 |
| Mostly "We’re innocent, blah, blah. Edited for Tahir info: Malaysia’s leader on Thursday questioned U.S. intelligence on this country’s role in a global nuclear trafficking network, and said the man President Bush called its "chief financial officer and money launderer" would not be arrested, for now. Or later, he knows too much. "He is on his feet and free to move around," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said of B.S.A. Tahir, allegedly a middleman who helped Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist sell equipment and know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He won’t dare leave Malaysia for fear of being grabbed. "There is no such thing as Malaysia’s involvement," Abdullah told reporters Thursday, when asked to respond to the remarks Bush made in a speech. "We are not involved in any way. I don’t know where Bush is getting his evidence from." "Lies, all lies!" Tahir, a Sri Lankan based in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, operated a computer company to order centrifuge components from a Malaysian factory - using designs from Pakistan - Bush said. Other parts came from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, he said. "Tahir acted as both the network’s chief financial officer and money launderer," Bush said. "He was also its shipping agent, using his computer firm as cover for the movement of centrifuge parts to various clients." The Malaysian company, Scomi Precision Engineering, says it supplied 14 semifinished machine components, ordered by Tahir, to Dubai. It says it understood the parts were for use in the oil and gas industry. The actual order was placed by a British company in Dubai called Gulf Technical Industries (GTI). Tahir apparently sold them their computers and serviced them. He would have been in a perfect position to install a backdoor and use GTI’s computers to place the order without their knowledge. Malaysian police have been investigating Tahir, who is married to the daughter of a former Malaysian diplomat, said a senior official. Ah, no wonder he hasn’t been picked up, it’s another family affair. "Malaysian police have spoken to him and asked him a lot of questions," Abdullah said. "So, you still related to you-know-who?" "Yup" "Ok, that’ll be all. Nice talking to you, Mr. tahir." Police say they’re not detaining Tahir because he has apparently broken no local laws. Malaysia has ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it is unclear whether its laws allow criminal prosecution for nuclear parts trafficking. Minor loophole |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Time for someone to get a birthday present - preferably a small, very poisonous snake slipped through the mail slot or into an open window. I'm sure the CIA can arrange for such an "accident". |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-2-12 7:11:42 PM |
| #2 I guess another country just became a member of the Nuclear Targeting list. |
| Posted by: djohn66 2004-2-12 3:31:33 PM |
| #1 More info: Washington, Feb. 10. (PTI): A Sri Lankan businessman with close connections to Malaysia's business elite, is emerging as a central figure in an international investigation into a clandestine network that sold Pakistani nuclear technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea, a media report said. Bukary Syed Abu Tahir was said to be a key operative for Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who last week confessed to illicitly selling nuclear expertise and hardware to third countries and named Tahir as an associate in the effort, The Wall Street Journal said in a report from Kuala Lumpur. The officials and acquaintances say Tahir and Khan have been friends for years, often travelling together on business. Tahir operates a computer supply and trading business known as SBM Group from his headquarters in Dubai. Among his close friends in Kuala Lumpur is Kamaluddin Abdullah, son of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the report said. Kamaluddin is part owner of the centrifuge factory. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-2-12 1:29:04 PM |