21 February 2004	Saturday	29 Zilhaj 1424

BERN, Feb 20: The UN nuclear agency has given Bern a list naming two Swiss companies and 15 Swiss nationals suspected of helping advance secret nuclear programs in Iran and Libya, the government said on Thursday.

The state planned to launch an inquiry to verify the information from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but would not reveal the names, secretary of state for the economy Othmar Wyss told the Swiss news agency ATS.

Wyss stressed there was no proof that any laws on nuclear transfers had been broken. "No violation of the law on the export of military materiel, nor of that on the control of dual-use goods, has been indicated," the official said.

The transfer of dual-use technology - which can be used for civilian and military purposes - is overseen by the Swiss government. "The names of 11 people on the list sent by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are unknown to us", he said. However, Wyss acknowledged that the IAEA had already asked for information from the Swiss government about two of the 11 "unknown" men, during an investigation seven years ago.

On Wednesday the New York Times reported that a Swiss father-son duo had been identified as having transferred sensitive technology to Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.

Urs Tinner, an engineer, monitored the production of centrifuge parts destined for Libya, and his father Friederich Tinner, also an engineer, was involved in exports of uranium-enrichment technology to Pakistan and Iraq, according to the Times' sources.

"We are once again going to look into" the Tinner's company, Wyss told the Swiss French-language daily Le Temps. He said dual-use technology exports to Iran were minimal, representing only 1.2 percent (4.0 million euros, 5.1 million dollars) of all such controlled exports.

Last year Switzerland sold a total of 345 million euros worth of goods to Iran. "This puts the commercial volume of dual-use business into perspective," Wyss said.

Diplomats in Vienna said Thursday that UN nuclear inspectors in Iran have found components of an advanced uranium enrichment centrifuge, prompting the United States to repeat its claim that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. -AFP