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Manik Mehta in Berlin
A German company is facing charges of violating foreign trade laws by supplying sensitive rocket materials to India without obtaining clearance from authorities, a media report said.
According to the German weekly newspaper Die Woche, the firm, located outside of Wurzburg in Bavaria, shipped eight hydraulic cylinders to India for use in the latest generation of the nuclear-capable Agni intermediate range ballistic missile.
India has said it plans to induct the Agni, which has a range of about 2,500 km, in its armed forces in 2001-02.
Dieter Bauer, state prosecutor in Wurzburg, confirmed much of the story carried in the August 3 edition of Die Woche. Bauer, however, did not disclose the name of the firm and said, "we do not want to jeopardise the ongoing investigation."
The supply of materials used for long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction is restricted under Germany's export control laws.
Bauer said the materials shipped to India included parts used for the ignition platform of medium-range missiles. His office said it had sought information and comments from India but had not received any information to shed light on the supply of the sensitive materials.
The company, Bauer said, had violated German trade laws by obtaining an export permit after making false declarations that the cylinders were meant for use in specialised vehicles used in bridge construction.
The investigators, according to Die Woche, believe that the company may have deliberately maintained silence on the real end use of the cylinders, implying that it may not have been deceived by the Indian buyers.
If the charges of security agencies against the Wurzburg company are confirmed, this will be one of Germany's most serious cases of illegal export of technology since the early 1990s.
Germany had then fallen into disrepute as an 'exporter of death' through shipment of weapons components to countries like Libya and Iraq.
Stricter export controls by customs and the German intelligence agency led to a fall in the number of cases of proliferation.
Bauer said the state prosecutor's office had conducted raids on the premises of the Wurzburg company as well as the residence of its owner. The raid on the company's premises had yielded extensive evidence.
The Cologne-based customs' crime branch and the intelligence service, popularly known by its German acronym BND, jointly conducted the investigation against the Wurzburg firm.
The owner of the company faces indictment by the Wurzburg state prosecutor and, if convicted, a prison sentence for violation of trade laws which preclude export of materials to so-called "tension regions" where the likelihood of war is high.
According to Die Woche, Bauer's office is continuing its investigation to establish the identities of persons and organizations that operate in the background.
"We are investigating in many directions," a spokesman for Bauer's office said.
In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the company had shipped the hydraulic cylinders to India in 1997. The company also applied for export permits with Bundesausfuhramt, the German agency that issues such documents.
But the company had declared in its application that the cylinders would be used for bridge construction in India.
The news report claimed the cylinders, which cost several hundred thousand German marks, were to be used in the firing mechanisms for the Agni. The cylinders allow missiles to be kept in a vertical firing position.
German experts claimed that India, by using the German technology, can induct the missile next year.
If India increases its stockpile, experts said that Pakistan is sure to follow suit. Die Woche quoted unidentified intelligence agencies to say that India has 20 to 30 nuclear weapons while Pakistan has 10 to 20.
Indo-Asian News Service
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