The Malaysian manufacturer linked to an investigation into the sale of nuclear parts to Libya said on Friday that the components it made were ordered for oil and gas work.
"We received the drawing for the part and made it according to the drawing. We were told these parts were for the oil and gas industry," SCOPE factory manager Che Lokman Che Omar told reporters.
Malaysian police said on Wednesday a Sri Lankan businessman at the centre of the probe in Malaysia got components from SCOPE, part of a public listed company controlled by the prime minister's son, Kamaluddin Abdullah, and two other investors.
"This contract was in the normal course of our business," Scomi Group Bhd Spokeswoman Rohaida Ali Badaruddin said, adding that the firm did not have customers in Libya.
Malaysian police said this week they were investigating a Sri Lankan businessman based in Dubai who is allegedly a middleman in the supply of centrifuge parts for uranium enrichment.
The police said they had been tipped off by Western intelligence agencies that the centrifuge parts made in Malaysia had been found aboard a ship bound for Libya in October.
The revelation was the latest twist in one of the biggest nuclear proliferation scandals in history, with Pakistan's top nuclear scientist accused of leaking weapons secrets and equipment to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Malaysia's pro-government New Straits Times detailed how Dubai's Gulf Technical Industries LCC (GTI) ordered 14 components from Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd (SCOPE).

Copyright Reuters, 2004

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