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Malaysia Promises Full Investigation of Centrifuge Deal
Malaysia yesterday pledged to conduct a comprehensive investigation into allegations that a Malaysian company provided uranium centrifuge components to a company that might have intended to transfer them to Libya, according to the Wall Street Journal (see GSN, Feb. 5). Malaysian authorities are investigating a deal between the Malaysian firm Scomi Group Bhd. and Gulf Technical Industries LLC, based in the United Arab Emirates, according to the Journal. In a statement yesterday, the Malaysian company said that it had supplied four shipments of “semifinished” centrifuge components to Gulf Technical Industries in 2002 and 2003, but it was unaware of the planned “end use” of the components. In October, though, a shipment of the Malaysian-built components was intercepted en route to Libya. There is no evidence that Scomi knew the components were going to be transferred to Libya, a senior Malaysian official said yesterday. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Najib Razak yesterday, though, pledged a full investigation into the incident. “The investigation will be very thorough and very transparent,” Najib said (Leslie Lopez, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6). In addition, Malaysian Prime Minister Abduallah Ahmad Badawi, whose son controls Scomi, also pledged a full and independent investigation. “I have directed the police to carry out the investigations without fear of favor,” Abdullah said (Eileen Ng, Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 6). Meanwhile, Malaysia today rejected a claim made in a speech yesterday by CIA Director George Tenet that Scomi was one of the key players in an international nuclear black market. “To say it is the largest part of a network is totally inaccurate,” a senior Malaysian official said. “It is coming from a CIA director who is discredited — he screwed up the intelligence going into Iraq,” the official said (Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 6).
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