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| Europe |
| Swiss magistrate recommends nuke smuggling charges |
| 2010-12-24 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Smuggling charges should be brought against three Swiss engineers suspected of giving nuclear weapons technology to a rogue network in Pakistain, a magistrate said on Thursday, in a case involving Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ties, shredded documents and national security implications. Investigating magistrate Andreas Mueller said his recommendation that the trio -- two brothers and a father -- face trial is based on an exhaustive probe into an alleged nuclear smuggling ring. Mueller submitted his confidential report to federal prosecutors, who will decide whether to bring charges on violating Swiss non-proliferation laws. Mueller oversaw the last three years of a six-year federal probe against Urs Tinner, his brother Marco and their father Friedrich. The politically sensitive case was slowed down after the Swiss government repeatedly ordered evidence destroyed in the case, allegedly under pressure from senior US officials. The Tinners are suspected of links to the nuclear smuggling network of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. They allegedly supplied Khan's black market nuclear network with the technical expertise and equipment used to make gas centrifuges. Khan sold the centrifuges for secret nuclear weapons programmes in countries that included Libya and Iran before his operation was disrupted in 2003. Mueller, who said he is relieved to be done with the investigation, harshly criticised the Swiss government for having "massively interfered in the wheels of justice by destroying almost all the evidence". He said the government also ordered the federal criminal police not to cooperate with him. "There are many parts. It is like a puzzle and if you put the puzzle together you get the whole picture," Mueller said at a news conference. "There is not (just) one piece of evidence, there are many pieces of evidence." US officials in Bern had no immediate comment. Mueller said he recommended the three face charges for "supporting the development of atomic weapons" in violation of non-proliferation laws, while Marco Tinner should face additional charges of money laundering. Mueller's 174-page report "is now being studied in detail" by the Swiss attorney general's office, which "will inform the public in due course" on whether charges will be filed against the Tinners, Federal Prosecutors Office spokeswoman Jeannette Balmer said. He said the Tinners did not deny working for the AQ Khan network, but claimed they did not know his aim was to produce nuclear weapons. He also said the Tinners had worked for the CIA since June 2003. "The findings are that the Tinners might be part of the Khan network," Mueller said after the news conference. "And beginning where they should have known that Khan produced atomic weapons, in May 1998, until they started to collaborate with the secret services, in June 2003, they in their specific roles were part of this network, and delivered parts to the network that the network then itself delivered to other countries, (such) as Libya," Mueller said. |
| Posted by:Fred |