U.S. urges KL leader to tighten export controls after nuke scam

U.S. urges KL leader to tighten export controls after nuke scam

Associated Press Kuala Lumpur

The United States urged Malaysia's leaders on Tuesday to crack down on nuclear trafficking, plugging criminal loopholes and tightening export controls after the discovery that a local company manufactured parts for Libya's nuclear program.

U.S. envoy John Stern Wolf, an assistant secretary heading the State Department's bureau of non-proliferation, held separate talks with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and other ministers, U.S. officials said.

Malaysian officials, however, insisted that Wolf did not meet the prime minister.

The issue is highly sensitive for Abdullah, who is on the verge of calling general elections. His son is the majority owner of the Malaysian company that made the parts for Libya. Police say the company was tricked into making the parts and have cleared it of responsibility.

Neither side released details of the talks, but a Malaysian foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wolf did not raise the threat of sanctions, and said it would be "foolhardy" for Washington to do so.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid said before his talks with Wolf that he did not expect the American to challenge the way Malaysia handled the probe into the Libyan deal and its refusal to arrest the key middleman, who remains at liberty in Malaysia.

"The whole thing is over already," Syed Hamid said. "Whatever had been needed to be done has been done. There has been full disclosure and a lot of transparency. It is no longer an issue."

Syed Hamid said Malaysia would consider signing additional Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) protocols prohibiting the sale of technology intended exclusively for nuclear use, but did not currently "see any necessity" to do so.

Malaysia contends it does not have the high-tech capacity to produce nuclear-specific technology, and that the parts made here had other conceivable uses.

The meetings follow complaints by Malaysia that it has been unfairly singled out as part of the network led by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, to supply nuclear technology and know-how to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

But U.S. officials are eager for Malaysia to stiffen export controls and take sterner measures against proliferation following the seizure of a ship carrying Malaysian-made centrifuge parts to Libya.

Wolf was to provide information to Malaysia about steps taken at the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as U.S. President George W. Bush's campaign against proliferation.

The Bush initiative includes taking stiffer criminal action against traffickers.