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Pakistan: U.S. Company Pleads Guilty to Illegal Export The U.S. company OMEGA Engineering Inc. and its Chief Financial Officer Ralph Michel pleaded guilty yesterday to illegally exporting equipment to Pakistan that could have been used to develop nuclear weapons, according to the Associated Press. Both the company and Michel pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Act, AP reported. Under the plea, OMEGA Engineering will pay a $313,000 fine. Michel faces up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine when he is sentenced in mid-July. “Our export control laws, particularly where there is a risk that exported materials may be used in the development of nuclear explosives, will be vigorously enforced and violations of these laws will not be tolerated,” Connecticut-based U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Connor said. In 1997, the U.S. Commerce Department rejected OMEGA Engineering’s request for an export license to ship equipment to Pakistan, prosecutors said. At the time, the department was concerned that the equipment would be used in nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel activities, they said. After the department twice rejected the company’s export license request, however, Michel arranged for the equipment to still be shipped to a Pakistani state company, AP reported (Dave Collins, Associated Press/Newsday.com, April 30).
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