House arrest for WMD man

2007-09-04 15:27

Pretoria - German engineer Gerhard Wisser, who has admitted to being involved in a nuclear smuggling ring, will spend the next three years under house arrest after reaching a plea bargain agreement with national prosecuting authorities.

Judge Joop Labuschagne on Tuesday sentenced the 68-year-old Wisser, former managing director of Randburg engineering company Krisch Engineering, to three years correctional supervision and a suspended jail term of 18 years.

This was after he admitted guilt on seven charges of contravening the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and the Nuclear Energy Act as well as two charges of forgery.

Wisser also consented to the confiscation of R6m in cash and the seizure of his overseas assets worth over €2.8m. He will co-operate with South African and overseas authorities in their investigations against other role players in the nuclear smuggling ring.

The trial of Swiss design engineer Daniel Geiges, who is seriously ill after being diagnosed with cancer, was postponed to September 21.

Serious threat to world peace

Proceedings against him will continue in his absence, as he has been scheduled for surgery later this month.

The charges to which Wisser admitted guilt relate to activities forming part of an international nuclear smuggling ring headed by Pakistani scientist Abdul Quadeer Khan aimed at supplying Pakistan and Libya with the means to manufacture nuclear arms.

Aggravating factors in the case included the serious threat to world peace and the potential of horrific loss of life and other destruction.

His activities had also caused great harm to South Africa's good international standing as a leading non-proliferation country.

Prosecutor RC Macadam said if it had not been for Wisser's advanced age, the state would have pushed for direct imprisonment.

Wisser admitted that he had in the early 2000s caused a flow-forming machine to be imported and re-exported from South Africa; that he caused nuclear related material to be manufactured without the authorisation of South African authorities, and that he had exported or attempted to export the material.

Forged documents

Wisser further admitted that he had forged documents to make the exports appear lawful.

All of his actions were connected to uranium enrichment by means of gas centrifuge plants, which was the preferred method of acquiring highly enriched uranium by states establishing and maintaining nuclear weapons outside the ambit of international nuclear control regimes.

He admitted that his actions - in concert with German businessman Gotthard Lerch and BSA Tahir, a Sri Lankan citizen based in Dubai - had contributed not only to an attempt by Libya to acquire a nuclear weapons programme, but also assisted countries like Pakistan to maintain their existing nuclear programme.

Wisser conceded that he had continued with his activities even after finding out they were connected to the proliferation activities of Khan, a leading role player in Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.

The State conceded that Wisser's guilty plea had saved them from an expensive three-year-long trial, but said it was nevertheless preceded by an extremely costly investigation, spanning several countries, including Malaysia.

Lerch could never be successfully prosecuted.

Khan was stripped of his cabinet post and placed under house arrest after his activities became known. He has made a public apology to the Pakistani nation.

- SAPA