Businessman denies WMD links
2004-09-03 16:58
Vanderbijlpark - The head of a South African engineering company was charged on Friday with trafficking in nuclear-related materials that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction.
Johan Meyer, 53, made a brief appearance at Vanderbijlpark magistrate's court on charges of violating South Africa's Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and Nuclear Energy Act.
He was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody pending a bail hearing on September 8.
"At this stage, we deny it," said his lawyer Heinrich Badenhorst.
According to the charge sheet, Meyer is accused of illegally importing and exporting material between November 21 2000 and November 30 2001 that "could contribute to the design, development, manufacture, deployment, maintenance or use of weapons of mass destruction".
The document also says Meyer, who was arrested on Thursday, was in possession of material, equipment and plans for the design and use of gas centrifuges, used to enrich uranium.
Co-operated with other countries
Prosecutors and defence attorneys declined to provide details of the allegations.
But Meyer's lawyer, Heinrich Badenhorst, said his client was accused of manufacturing banned items at his engineering company about 90km southeast of Johannesburg.
Abdul Mhursday, chairperson of the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, said the arrest follows an investigation into a number of companies and individuals in co-operation with other countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"There has been a recovery of items alleged to have been used in the contraventions," he said.
Officials at the council could not be reached for further details.
Two decades later, it voluntarily dismantled the programme, winning praise from the IAEA.
Since then, South Africa has followed a strict policy of disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, said Minty.
Falsified documents
A South Africa-based Israeli businessman, Asher Karni, was arrested in Denver on New Year's Day and accused of using front companies and falsified documents to buy nuclear bomb triggers in the United States for shipment to Pakistan.
Another South Africa-based suspect, identified only as Gerhard W, was arrested in Germany in August and accused of acting as a middleman in a 2001 request to provide pipes to Libya for use in an uranium enrichment facility.
A company in South Africa made the pipes, but they apparently were not delivered to Libya, prosecutors there said.
- AP