Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has told police to investigate "without fear or favour" allegations that a company controlled by his son was involved in supplying parts for Libya's nuclear weapons programme, reports said today.

Abdullah was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying he would "not interfere" in the probe of Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd (Scope), which allegedly supplied centrifuge components for Libya's uranium-enrichment programme.

Scope is a unit of listed oil and gas firm Scomi Group, in which the premier's son, Kamaluddin Abdullah ( photo ), is the biggest shareholder.

"I have directed the police to carry out the investigations without fear or favour," Abdullah said.

He noted that the components produced by Scope were "generic" and could be used for a multitude of non-nuclear purposes.

The truth

Abdullah said he was not worried about Malaysia being linked to an international black-market nuclear weapons proliferation syndicate exposed by the admission of Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, that he transferred know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

"If we know the truth, we should not be worried. I hope that the investigations will reveal the truth. The police are working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," he added.

The premier said he did not know whether reports that Khan had visited Malaysia were true but had ordered police to investigate.

Scomi, which has said it was never told of the end-use of the components, on Friday invited the media to visit its factory in central Selangor state.

Factory manager Che Lokman Che Omar said Scope was told the parts were for use in the oil and gas industry and that no special export permit was needed for the products because they were not seen as sensitive items, adding that they went through normal customs procedures.

"If you show me a part I will not be able to tell you what it would be used for. We were told that it was for the oil and gas industry. We produced strictly according to the drawings provided by GTI," he said.

The factory was set up in 2001, specifically to produce the components for Gulf Technical Industries LLC (GTI) in Dubai in a deal arranged by Dubai-based Sri Lankan businessman BSA Tahir.

Tahir has been identified by Western intelligence sources as a middleman for Khan's black market nuclear syndicate.

The company said the last consigmnent was shipped in August last year and there had been no order since.

Scomi spokeswoman Rohida Ali Badaruddin said during the factory tour: "The message here is that we are not the subject of investigations. We are merely facilitating the investigations and the investigation is into one of our customers."

Lokman said that in its first year of operation the order from GTI made up 80 percent of the factory's turnover, but the company had now expanded and had other overseas customers in the oil, gas and auto industries.

None of its customers was in Libya, the Middle East or North Korea, he said.

Briton involved

Police late Wednesday said they had launched a probe after US and British intelligence services told them last November about Scope's role and identified Tahir as the middleman.

The intelligence revealed that five containers allegedly containing centrifuge components were seized from a ship, BBC China, in Taranto, Italy, on Oct 4.

Police said Tahir and Scope were "co-operating fully" in the probe and denied reports that Tahir was in custody.

The New Straits Times quoted intelligence agency sources as saying that the owner of GTI, which ordered the components from Scope, was a British citizen named Peter Griffin.

Raw materials for the components were sourced in Singapore from a subsidiary of a German company called Bikar Metalle Germany, the sources said.

They said US, British and Malaysian intelligence services and the IAEA were investigating the two links. - AFP