WMD case referred to high court
2005-05-18 11:26
Johannesburg - The case of two men arrested last year on weapons of mass destruction charges was transferred to Pretoria during their appearance in the Vanderbijlpark regional court on Wednesday.
A court official told Sapa that the two had made a brief appearance and the case was transferred to the Pretoria High Court for August 22.
She said the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) had sent a letter instructing officials at the court to not provide any further details to the media on the matter.
Earlier the prosecuting authority's spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi told Sapa the men were expected to be served with a final charge sheet on Wednesday.
Details of this may be made available later.
Randburg engineering firm directors Daniel Geiges and Gerhard Wisser were arrested after Vanderbijlpark associate Johan Meyer turned state witness during an investigation into the alleged trafficking of nuclear weapon components to Libya.
Machinery for enriching uranium
The arrests took place last September and were accompanied by the seizure of a number of containers that were sent to the Pelindaba nuclear facility outside Pretoria so that their contents could be examined. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency were assisting.
They faced initial charges under the Nuclear Energy Act and the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act following South Africa's agreement to cooperate in an international investigation into where Libya obtained components for its now abandoned nuclear weapons programme.
The initial charge sheet listed a number of items of machinery that could be used to manufacture machinery for enriching uranium, including a lathe. The charges included alleged attempts to import and export machinery without the relevant permits.
During their bail hearings the men's legal representatives said they would plead not guilty to the charges.
At the time of their arrest, the SA Council for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons said that investigators were also examining a possible link with Abdul Khan, a former head of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, who allegedly became a trafficker for countries unable to access components for their nuclear weapons programmes.
- SAPA