Saturday, December 17, 2011
Switzerland may free nuclear smugglers
From The Hindu
In an unexpected turn of events Swiss authorities announced a
decision to enter into a plea bargain with the notorious Tinner family members,
who have been in jail over nuclear smuggling charges in the illicit network of
disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The Tinners, Friedrich and his two sons Urs and Marco, were also
accused of being informants for the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency
and one of the father-sons team was actually said to have been a CIA contractor.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland this week noted
that it had formally filed charges against the Tinnners under the War Material
Act, an indictment based on their alleged aiding of “the illegal nuclear weapons
programme of an unknown state through various activities.”
However the Swiss authority also sought to close the case against
the Tinners after the courts found verdicts of guilt “in relation to offences
under the WMA and against one of the sons for forgery of documents.” The
prosecutors said that the proceedings in respect of other offences had already
been dropped and the court was “requested to accept a plea bargain between the
parties covering sentences, the allocation of costs, the forfeiture of assets
and other matters.”
One Washington think-tank that has closely tracked the case, the
Institute for Science and International Security, said that the Tinners were
expected to plead guilty in an agreement “that will likely include no further
jail time.”
ISIS however said that it applauded the Swiss authorities’
announcement as it left in place “a precedent that proliferators will be
prosecuted for their crimes by governments.” For years, the ongoing, unresolved
case against the Tinners has exposed sensitive government activities and created
a constitutional crisis in Switzerland, ISIS analysts said.
The case against the Tinners gained momentum last December after a
Swiss Magistrate recommended bringing charges against them notwithstanding a
“seven-year effort by the Central Intelligence Agency” to keep their own
relationship with the Tinners secret.
According to media reports unnamed officials in the George W. Bush
administration, which helped bust the Khan smuggling ring, also acknowledged
that the Tinners secretly served as double agents for the CIA. In their latter
capacity, the New York Times reported last year, the Tinners gave the
U.S. spy agency information about Khan’s activities and helped the agency
“introduce flaws into the equipment” sold by Khan to other countries.
In pushing forward charges Swiss Magistrate Andreas Müller in
December 2010 had attacked his government for having “massively interfered in
the wheels of justice by destroying almost all the evidence.” Less attention was
however given to allegations of CIA break-ins in Switzerland, and an
“unexplained decision by the agency not to seize electronic copies of a number
of nuclear bomb designs found on the computers of the Tinner family.
Labels: A.Q. Khan, illicit network, nuclear smuggling, Pakistan's nuclear policy
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Swiss case against Pakistani nuclear smuggling ring could expose CIA role
From The Hindu
When a Swiss Magistrate recommended bringing nuclear smuggling charges against Friedrich Tinner and his two sons Urs and Marco this week, he could have only guessed at the ripple effect that the case would have in two faraway countries – Pakistan and the United States.
The Tinners, who are Swiss nationals, allegedly ran the most notorious nuclear smuggling ring in history – the shadowy web of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
While Khan, who was released from house arrest in early 2009 despite confessing to illicit nuclear sales, is well known for smuggling nuclear products to states such as North Korea and Libya, what is likely to cause a stir in the United States is the fact that the Swiss case frustrates a “seven-year effort by the Central Intelligence Agency” to keep their own relationship with the Tinners secret.
According to reports in the American media, the Bush administration officials admitted that the Tinners not only worked for Khan but also secretly served as double agents for the CIA. In their latter capacity, the New York Times reported, the Tinners gave the U.S. spy agency information about Khan’s activities and helped the agency “introduce flaws into the equipment” sold by Khan to other countries.
Magistrate Andreas Müller, who held a news conference in Bern on Thursday to announce the charges, attacked the Swiss government for having “massively interfered in the wheels of justice by destroying almost all the evidence.”
While Mr. Müller criticised the government for ordering federal criminal police not to cooperate with him, what was left unsaid was that alleged CIA break-ins in Switzerland, and an “unexplained decision by the agency not to seize electronic copies of a number of nuclear bomb designs found on the computers of the Tinner family,” might also be exposed during the course of the forthcoming investigation.
According to the NYT,investigators from several countries said that one such blueprint “came from an early Chinese atomic bomb; two more advanced designs were from Pakistan’s program.”
Commenting on the murky involvement of the CIA and Swiss authorities, Mr. Müller said, “There are many parts. It is like a puzzle and if you put the puzzle together you get the whole picture.”
The possibility of official charges against the Tinners came even as a new book, “Fallout,” is on the verge of being released – a book that was said to describe “previously unknown details of the CIA’s secret relationship with the Tinners, which appears to have started around 2000.”
The book reportedly tells how the CIA agents sent the Tinners “coded instructions, spied on their family, tried to buy their silence and ultimately had the Bush administration press Switzerland to destroy evidence in an effort to keep the Tinners from being indicted and testifying in open court.”
In particular it is reported to describe how the Bush administration “grew so alarmed at possible disclosures of CIA links to the family that in 2006 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lobbied Swiss officials to drop their investigation.”
Reports suggested that the next step would be for the Swiss Attorney General to decide whether to accept Mr. Müller's recommendations. The case continues.
When a Swiss Magistrate recommended bringing nuclear smuggling charges against Friedrich Tinner and his two sons Urs and Marco this week, he could have only guessed at the ripple effect that the case would have in two faraway countries – Pakistan and the United States.
The Tinners, who are Swiss nationals, allegedly ran the most notorious nuclear smuggling ring in history – the shadowy web of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
While Khan, who was released from house arrest in early 2009 despite confessing to illicit nuclear sales, is well known for smuggling nuclear products to states such as North Korea and Libya, what is likely to cause a stir in the United States is the fact that the Swiss case frustrates a “seven-year effort by the Central Intelligence Agency” to keep their own relationship with the Tinners secret.
According to reports in the American media, the Bush administration officials admitted that the Tinners not only worked for Khan but also secretly served as double agents for the CIA. In their latter capacity, the New York Times reported, the Tinners gave the U.S. spy agency information about Khan’s activities and helped the agency “introduce flaws into the equipment” sold by Khan to other countries.
Magistrate Andreas Müller, who held a news conference in Bern on Thursday to announce the charges, attacked the Swiss government for having “massively interfered in the wheels of justice by destroying almost all the evidence.”
While Mr. Müller criticised the government for ordering federal criminal police not to cooperate with him, what was left unsaid was that alleged CIA break-ins in Switzerland, and an “unexplained decision by the agency not to seize electronic copies of a number of nuclear bomb designs found on the computers of the Tinner family,” might also be exposed during the course of the forthcoming investigation.
According to the NYT,investigators from several countries said that one such blueprint “came from an early Chinese atomic bomb; two more advanced designs were from Pakistan’s program.”
Commenting on the murky involvement of the CIA and Swiss authorities, Mr. Müller said, “There are many parts. It is like a puzzle and if you put the puzzle together you get the whole picture.”
The possibility of official charges against the Tinners came even as a new book, “Fallout,” is on the verge of being released – a book that was said to describe “previously unknown details of the CIA’s secret relationship with the Tinners, which appears to have started around 2000.”
The book reportedly tells how the CIA agents sent the Tinners “coded instructions, spied on their family, tried to buy their silence and ultimately had the Bush administration press Switzerland to destroy evidence in an effort to keep the Tinners from being indicted and testifying in open court.”
In particular it is reported to describe how the Bush administration “grew so alarmed at possible disclosures of CIA links to the family that in 2006 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lobbied Swiss officials to drop their investigation.”
Reports suggested that the next step would be for the Swiss Attorney General to decide whether to accept Mr. Müller's recommendations. The case continues.
Labels: A. Q. Khan, CIA, nuclear smuggling, Tinners smuggling
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