German Company Tied Up in Nuclear Affair

Singapore company, Bikar Metal Asia, has been implicated in the sale of components for Libya's nuclear programme but denied any wrongdoing.

The Singapore-based subsidiary of German company Bikar Metalle was named in Malaysian newspaper reports as having supplied the raw materials to Malaysia's Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd (SCOPE), it said.

The trail then led to a Dubai-based company which ordered the parts, allegedly for Libya's nuclear programme.

Bikar Metal Asia, which has its office at Pandan Crescent, was registered in 1999 as a manufacturer of metal and plastic products. Its German parent, Bikar Metalle, has been manufacturing precision metal sheets of brass, copper and aluminium for almost 40 years.

Konstantin Bikar, a partner in Bikar Metalle, said that the company had done nothing wrong and had only supplied aluminium rods.

The goods were not on the list of export-controlled items, meaning the company did not require permission from the authorities to ship them out.

Both he and Bikar Metal Asia's director, Thorsten Heise, said they only found out yesterday that the company was implicated.

"We have no knowledge of what the customer would do with the goods, or information that they were meant for Libya. Otherwise, we would not have delivered them," said Bikar.