Italy drawn into uranium saga

2003-07-16 19:19

Rome - Italy may have passed on to the United States and Britain disputed claims that Saddam Hussein had been seeking uranium in Africa to make nuclear weapons, the head of a parliamentary intelligence committee said on Wednesday.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government has denied that Italy's intelligence services passed on "documents" about the matter. But committee chief Enzo Bianco, speaking after a top government official addressed the commission in secret, did not deny that the information may have been passed on informally.

"This is possible," he said. "I don't rule it out."

The United States and Britain used the claim that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger to bolster the case for war, but it has since been widely questioned. News reports have said Italian intelligence was behind the documents that led to the claim.

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the reports, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Tuesday. They will now investigate whether a crime may have been committed in the case, and if anyone may be guilty.

- AP