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.