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Malaysian Firm Pleads Ignorance in Libyan Nuclear Shipment
A Malaysian company that manufactured equipment destined for Libya’s planned uranium enrichment program never questioned what the parts were for and has no policy to check on the end-use of its products, company spokesmen said Friday (see GSN, Feb. 6). Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE) invited journalists to its facility to demonstrate that it had been an unwitting participant in the growing nuclear proliferation scandal. From December 2002 to August 2003, SCOPE manufactured 14 parts from high-grade stainless steel and aluminum and shipped them to the Dubai-based firm Gulf Technical Industries, according to the Associated Press. Later, those parts, components to uranium enrichment centrifuges, were intercepted in the Mediterranean on their way to Libya. “To me, they were just normal parts,” said Che Lokman Che Omar, SCOPE’s factory manager. “I have been using these machines for 15 years, and I have made many more difficult parts,” he added. The factory typically produces auto parts and industrial tubing, AP reported. The centrifuge parts order did not draw any special attention, said Scomi spokeswoman Rohaida Ali Badaruddin. The firm was never told and never asked how the parts would be used, she said. While Malaysia requires its firms to apply for an export license to ship “sensitive items,” Scomi did not seek a license because there was nothing unusual about the order, Rohaida said, asserting that the company engineers did not have the expertise to understand the purpose of the parts they were making. If the firm were to receive another order from Libya, Rohaida said it would accept the order. “Milling and cutting is the same today as it was before,” she said (Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press/Anchorage Daily News, Feb. 6).
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