by Sachi Sri Kantha; originally published February 22, 2004
On February 11, 2004, President George W.Bush delivered an address on Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation at the National Defense University, Washington DC. His revelation on the activities of a high-profile Sri Lankan Muslim middleman tied to the leak of nuclear secrets by the Pakistan nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and his coterie was nothing but a bombshell. One can easily feel the blushed faces and discomfiture of politicians, military middlemen and self-pretentious political and terrorism analysts in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Dubai. Already Pervez Musharaff, the President of Pakistan, is facing credibility problems.
I provide below two news reports for (a) their topicality to Eelam Tamils, (b) the dubious relevance to the ‘terrorism’ label tagged on LTTE by the USA and a few other countries like Britain, (c) their associated underground implications of the past Sri Lankan-Pakistan military deals-from 1983 to 2002, and (d) the expose on the dubious scholarship of terrorism analysts like Rohan Gunaratna, Iqbal Athas, D.B.S.Jeyaraj, N.Ram and coterie.
(1) Excerpts from President Bush’s Feb.11th address:
[courtesy: http://www.ndu.edu/info/whatsnew/PresBush-NDU.cfm]
“Khan’s deputy — a man named B.S.A. Tahir — ran SMB computers, a business in Dubai. Tahir used that computer company as a front for the proliferation activities of the A. Q. Khan network. Tahir acted as both the network’s chief financial officer and money launderer. He was also its shipping agent, using his computer firm as cover for the movement of centrifuge parts to various clients. Tahir directed the Malaysia facility to produce these parts based on Pakistani designs, and then ordered the facility to ship the components to Dubai. Tahir also arranged for parts acquired by other European procurement agents to transit through Dubai for shipment to other customers.
This picture of the Khan network was pieced together over several years by American and British intelligence officers. Our intelligence services gradually uncovered this network’s reach, and identified its key experts and agents and money men. Operatives followed its transactions, mapped the extent of its operations. They monitored the travel of A. Q. Khan and senior associates. They shadowed members of the network around the world, they recorded their conversations, they penetrated their operations, we’ve uncovered their secrets. This work involved high risk, and all Americans can be grateful for the hard work and the dedication of our fine intelligence professionals.”
President Bush did not identify B.S.A.Tahir as a Sri Lankan in his address. But he added additional details on this Muslim middleman for nuclear arms. President stated,
“Mr. Tahir is in Malaysia, where authorities are investigating his activities. Malaysian authorities have assured us that the factory the network used is no longer producing centrifuge parts. Other members of the network remain at large. One by one, they will be found, and their careers in the weapons trade will be ended.”
(2) Who is this Mr.Tahir?
[courtesy: http://www.arabtimesonline.com; Associated Press feature datelined Dubai, UAR.]
Some clues on the activities of this mysterious Muslim middleman Tahir is available in the Associated Press feature, which appeared following President Bush’s revelation on his link to Dr.Khan.
“The Sri Lankan businessman US President Bush accused of brokering black-market deals for nuclear technology had a taste for Versace suits and liked to mingle with diplomats and politicians. At his business, Bukhary Syed Abu Tahir, kept a low profile, leaving daily operations to his brother but making major decisions himself and often meeting privately with clients.
Now he is gone to Malaysia, leaving behind employees stunned by accusations that his Dubai-based SMB Computers was a front for money laundering and illegal nuclear shipments. The company is part of a small-business empire with interests in Pakistan, Iran and Libya, key countries linked to the clandestine weapons network.
Several employees and one former employee of SMB spoke to The Associated Press about Tahir’s life and company. None said he had witnessed any wrongdoing, though some who interacted with him daily said he tended to meet alone only with certain business contacts. All who spoke to AP insisted on anonymity, with those still employed saying they feared being fired for speaking to a journalist.
Their boss could not be reached for comment. Tahir was said to have left town in October with his family. The last time he was seen in public was shortly before that, at gala dinner at a computer exhibition in Dubai, an industry executive said. Tahir, now in his mid-40s, launched his information technology enterprise from a small, rundown office in Dubai’s Deira district in 1988, according to a former employee, who said he was with the company for several years.
Within five years, SMB – named for Tahir’s grandfather Syed Muhammed Bukhary – was an industry leader, distributing brands including Epson, Palm, Acer and Samsung. Today, the company’s headquarters is in the upscale, marbled Al Musalla Tower in the heart of Dubai’s commercial district. Tahir shared his seventh-floor office with his younger brother Syed Ibrahim Bukhary, who ran day-to-day affairs at the company. Tahir stayed in the background yet made all the major decisions.
Employees described Tahir as intelligent and religious, praying late into the night during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, a practice of devout Muslims. He also was a bit flamboyant, always well-groomed and favoring designer suits and fast cars. He drove a Mercedes S320 for a while, then a white BMW X5. Tahir and his Malaysian wife lived with their pre-school-age son in a four bedroom condo in the chic Majestic Palace, a tinted-windowed building where the ground floor houses expensive boutiques selling gold jewelry, designer clothes and Fendi accessories.
A security guard at the Majestic Palace said Tahir left with his family in October. A close employee said Tahir had gone to Malaysia but returned in November and December for brief visits to the Dubai office. In Washington on Tuesday, Bush named Tahir a key link in a clandestine network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced father of Pakistan’s atomic program who confessed leaking nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Bush described Tahir as the network’s chief financial officer, money launderer and shipping agent, ‘using his computer firm as cover for the movement of centrifuge parts to various clients.’ Khan and his associates allegedly used a company in Malaysia to make parts for centrifuges – used to enrich uranium for weapons – and Bush said front companies deceived legitimate firms into selling the tightly controlled materials.
Revelations about SMB’s alleged illegal activities stunned company workers, an employee said. The atmosphere today is tense among the staff of 150 at the company’s headquarters, and a week ago, Tahir’s name was removed from a company Web site. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday questioned US intelligence on Tahir’ alleged role in the network. He acknowledged that Tahir was in Malaysia but said he would not be arrested – for now. ‘He is on his feet and free to move around,’ Badawi said.
Badawi’s only son, Kamaluddin Abdullah, also has been implicated in the nuclear proliferation scandal. He is a major shareholder in the Malaysian company, Scomi Precision Engineering, whose factory made parts found in a shipment for Libya that could be used to enrich uranium. The factory admits it made 14 semi-finished machine components ordered by Tahir, but says it thought the parts were for the oil and gas industry.
Tahir allegedly started ordering the centrifuge components in 2001 for another Dubai-based company, Gulf Technical Industries LLC. The multimillian-dollar contract made GTI Scomi’s biggest customer in fiscal 2002, according to Scomi’s public financial reports. GTI’s British owner, Paul Griffin, who has a commercial license to trade in pumps, engines, valves and spare parts, was reached Friday in Dubai and denied any wrongdoing.
Griffin said he knew Tahir and Khan as acquaintances, but that his company had never ordered the illicit shipments. Griffin said he had not been contacted by Emirates authorities, or by British or US officials, and that he was corresponding with Scomi to clear his company’s name. At the SMB electronics showroom that allegedly was a front for nuclear black marketeering, the motto is: ‘Customers are Kings and Kings Don’t Bargain’. It was business as usual the day after Bush’s comments. Newspapers in the Emirates did not report the president’s accusations against SMB until four days later.
According to SMB’s Web site, it has subsidiaries in Egypt and Kazakhstan and owns Dubai-based Peripherals Gulf Limited, a distributor for American giants Hewlett Packard and Tripplite in the former Soviet States. The possible theft of highly enriched uranium in Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics has been an ongoing US concern. Current employee familiar with the company’s accounts said he never noticed anything out of the ordinary in SMB’s cash flow, such as large, unexplained shipments or money transfers.
The former employee said a female Sri Lankan politician and a retired Pakistani military officer who introduced himself only as Iftikhar, as well as a US-educated Indian engineer who was a go-between for Tahir on his business dealings in Iran, were visitors he always received in private. The Emirates’ government had no comment on the allegations, a spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity, and it was unclear if it would take any action against SMB.
Dubai has been in the crosshairs of US and Western investigators for banking, trade and visa regulations that can be easily abused for money laundering and illicit trade. The recent revelations – and Bush’s fingering of SMB and Dubai – highlight the rich, freewheeling emirate’s role as a center for traders and middlemen running the blackmarket. Dubai also has been at the center of shady dealings, including illicit money transfers.
About half the $250,000 spent on the Sept.11 attacks was wired to Al-Qaeda terrorists in the United States from Dubai banks, say officials of the US Treasury and UAE Central Bank. Al-Qaeda money in Dubai banks also has been linked to the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.”
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In this AP news feature of approximately 1,140 words, what still needs clarity is the revelation of former employee of SMB, that “a female Sri Lankan politician” is a guarded visitor of this Muslim middleman Tahir. Who is this female Sri Lankan politician? As of now, there are only a handful of female Sri Lankan politicians – the most prominent being the President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Is it that possible (without any media attention) for Chandrika to make guarded visits to Tahir’s luxurious compound? Probably not. The other ‘female Sri Lankan politician’ who can be identified is Mrs. Feriel Ashraff (a Muslim) – the widow of late M.H.M.Ashraff – and a political companion of Chandrika Kumaratunga. What would have been the role of this female politician in the secret deals of nuclear material middleman Tahir?
My Candid Comments
President Bush’s bombshell on the secret role of middleman Tahir exposes the pseudo-scholarship of expert Colombo watchers like Rohan Gunaratna, D.B.S.Jeyaraj, H.L.D.Mahindapala, Iqbal Athas and N.Ram. Were they not aware of the existence of Colombo-Pakistan military deals? [Note: I have provided a critical view of Colombo-Pakistan military links, in a few chapters of my Pirabhakaran Phenomenon series; available in this website.] If Gunaratna and his peers in terrorism analysis have intentionally omitted reporting on the activities of Tahir and his coterie as conduits of Dr.Khan’s back-alley nuclear secrets, then they are nothing but cheats. For the past decade, their pens have spilled much ink on LTTE’s activities on weapon purchase and alleged drug-running. They also had bleated on the activities of LTTE’s arm negotiator K.P. On the other hand, if these self-appointed terrorism analysts have ignorantly omitted reporting on the activities of Tahir, this also reveal their lacunae on intelligence science. It seems, these terrorism experts need to do much home work on real terrorists and their nefarious arms deals.