Malaysia's deputy prime minister said today he hoped a police report clearing a local company of ties to a nuclear ring run by the former head of Pakistan's atomic programme would mark an end to the affair.

The company, Scomi Precision Engineering (Scope), is owned by by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son.

"I am delighted that the police have come out in the open about their investigation. This goes to show that whatever that has been alleged has been totally vindicated," Najib Rajak was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

"We hope we can put this issue to rest," the deputy prime minister added.

Scope cleared

Yesterday, police released a report clearing Scope of breaking any laws, saying the company was unaware that components it had manufactured were part of a centrifuge unit headed for Libya.

US and British intelligence services had told Malaysia that the centrifuge parts had been found on a ship bound for Libya last October.

Centrifuges can be used to enrich uranium both for nuclear reactors and for atomic bombs.

But today, two nuclear related state-owned agencies said Malaysia would submit a written report to the International Atomic Energy Agencyon the alleged supply of uranium centrifuge components by a local company to Libya.

The Malaysian Institute for Technology Research and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board said Malaysia was not under investigations by the UN nuclear watchdog in the case concerning the alleged supply of uranium centrifuge components from Malaysia to Libya.

"But the IAEA has informally requested certain specific information pertaining to the case from Malaysia," the agencies said in a joint-statement.

This was to assist the IAEA in its investigations in other countries that are suspected to be in violation of the Non-proliferation Treaty, it said.

It said the IAEA had not sent any any of its inspectors to Malaysia to specifically check on any matter relating to this case.

No knowledge

The Malaysian company admitted making the parts but said it believed they were for use in the oil and gas industries and did not know their final destination.

Malaysia has strenuously denied that either the company or the country was knowingly involved in the nuclear arms black market.

Najib said if the United States wanted to question Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, named by the United States as the intermediary in the smuggling ring and a permanent resident of Malaysia, it had to put the request to the police.

"Let the police decide," he said.

Tahir was named by US President George W Bush as "deputy" to former head of Pakistan's nuclear programme Abdul Qadeer Khan in the international nuclear trafficking ring. - AFP