KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18: Malaysia on Wednesday welcomed a statement by a senior US official that the government was not implicated in a nuclear black market scandal, as attention turned to a shadowy Sri Lankan businessman living here.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said the truth had prevailed after US Undersecretary of State John Bolton told reporters that President George W. Bush had not meant to imply that the government was involved in shipping centrifuge parts to Libya.
Bolton said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday there was "certainly no whiff of an allegation in the president's statement that the government of Malaysia had the slightest thing to do with it".
His clarification followed a protest from Kuala Lumpur after Bush referred in a major speech last week to the seizure of centrifuge parts made in Malaysia aboard a ship destined for Libya last October.
Centrifuges can be used for enriching uranium for nuclear weapons. Bolton also appeared to accept the explanation of the company involved, Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE), that it did not know where the parts were going and thought they were for use in the oil and gas industries.
He said "perfectly reputable companies" could be given specifications and manufacture "these devices and not have any idea what they're ultimately being bound for."
Scomi spokeswoman Rohaida Ali Badarudin told local media Wednesday the company was pleased with Bolton's statement as "it cleared us of being associated with the clandestine network."
Malaysia had been outraged by Mr Bush's linking of the company, which is owned by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son Kamaluddin, with the nuclear black market.
However, questions remain about the role of Sri Lankan businessman B.S.A. Tahir, who ordered the parts from SCOPE and was named by Mr Bush as Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan's "deputy, chief financial officer and money launderer".
Premier Abdullah said Tahir had indeed placed the order and had been questioned by police but not arrested. Local police were working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the investigation, he said.
Abdullah's deputy Najib Razak said on Wednesday: "The question is has he broken any laws? We have to investigate and get the facts first before we can act on anything."
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Tahir had been a director of an investment holding company called Kaspadu, until recently owned by his wife in partnership with the prime minister's son. SCOPE's parent, the Scomi Group, is principally owned by Kaspadu, the paper said. -AFP