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| Southeast Asia |
| The centrifuge parts controversy: The Anglo-German link |
| 2004-02-06 |
| More details coming out: International investigators in the centrifuge parts controversy have uncovered evidence that could implicate British, German and Singapore-based interests. Sources told The Malay Mail that investigators have established a clear link between Dubai-based Gulf Technical Industries L.L.C. (GTI) and a group of investors, including a British national. Checks into another company, Bikar Metalle Germany, have led the investigators to an operation in Pandan Crescent, near Clementi Road in Singapore. The firm has been identified as Bikar-Metal Asia Pte Ltd. GTI is at the centre of an on-going multi-national investigation into the supply of centrifuge parts for export to proliferating countries. These new findings on the involvement of British, German, and Singapore-based companies have thrown wide open the implications of reports that originally alleged the involvement of companies from Malaysia, Switzerland, Turkey and South Africa. Getting bigger all the time. Intelligence agency sources said GTI, owned by British national Peter Griffin, ordered 14 components from Malaysia’s Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Scomi Group Bhd. The raw materials were sourced from Bikar-Metal Asia Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Bikar Metalle, based in Germany. The Singapore-based company supplies precision sheet blanks of aluminium, copper, brass and plastic to the industry. The company also specialises in precision metal cutting for cicular blanks and ring blanks. On its website, the company said they operate 24 hours to tailor to their clients’ needs. The Malay Mail could not reach its managing director Thorten Heise on his cellphone last night. Raw materials and blank cutting, most likely they wouldn’t know what the metal was intended for. Bikar Metal was the second German company implicated in the controversy. The New York Times had reported earlier this week of three middlemen in the supply of centrifuges to GTI who were Germans, identified by American officials only by their last names – ‘Brummer’, ‘Heinz’ and ‘Liech’. A Dutch citizen identified by Pakistani officials as "Hank" was also described as a middleman, though American intelligence officials believe that Hank is his first name. The man is believed to have some connections with Urenco, the European conglomerate where Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistani’s nuclear arms programme, once worked. Dr Khan was convicted in absentia for stealing technology there, though the conviction was overturned on a technicality. Interesting. Dr Khan smuggled out of Pakistan a mix of new and untested centrifuges and centrifuge parts, the senior official said. Some of the machines and components were defective, by his account. Or he just pretended they were, had them shipped to Malaysia for re-furbishing and to serve as models to copy. Then sent them to Iran where the IAEA found traces of enriched uranium. Check the Malaysian factory for traces of radiation. Meanwhile, Malaysian officials said the Dubai-based, Sri Lankan businessman Bukary Syed Abu Tahir, who is the middleman believed to control GTI, the company that gave the manufacturing contract to Scomi, has been made available to the US and British intelligence. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Damn good point Mr. Guy... need to ask Sen. Kerry about the arrest of Dr. Khan.... and the criminal investigation that proceeded it. All handled in a perfectly legal fashion. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-6 3:30:30 PM |
| #1 You see how this war can turn into a police investigation. Khan was convicted, so what. It's not about who did what. It's about why these counties are arming themselves. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-2-6 1:12:17 PM |