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Washington Post 12lant9
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Bonn Links 2 Firms
To Unauthorized
Exports to Libya
W. Germany Sets New Control Measures
By Robert J. McCartney
Washington Post Foreign Service
BONN, Jan. 11-The West Ger-
man government today acknowl-
edged for the first time that inves-
tigators have uncovered "indica-
tions" that two West German firms
· may have made unauthorized ex-
ports to Libya.
The statement appeared to rep-
resent a reversal by the Bonn gov-
ernment, which had insisted for
more than a week that it had seen
no indications or evidence to sup-
port U.S. administration allegations
that five West German companies
helped Libya build a chemical weap-
ons factory.
Customs investigators and other
export-monitoring authorities have
obtained information indicating that
two of the five companies impli-
cated by Washington may have
been involved with a Belgian trans-
port company in making unautho-
rized exports to Libya, a govern-
ment spokesman said.
Yesterday the government an-
nounced a major package of control
measures for new arms shipments
abroad that commentators here said
was a clear admission that the Bonn
government had been lax in enforc-
ing its own ban on military exports
to regions of tension.
[In Washington, a State Depart-
ment spokesman "warmly wel-
comed" Bonn's move, adding that
the administration would have to
study the new restrictions careful-
ly.]
The two West German compa-
nies implicated are IBI Engineering
of Frankfurt, which has been linked
to an Iraqi businessman identified
as Ihsan Barbouti, and Imhausen-
Chemie GmbH of Lahr, said the
Bonn government spokesman in a
telephone interview tonight. The
Belgian firm is Cross Link of Ant-
werp, the spokesman added.
Imhausen previously has denied
that it delivered chemical arms
equipment to Libya, while IBI En-
gineering has not publicly re-
sponded to the allegations. Cross
Link refused comment when con-
tacted today, Reuter news agency
reported:
West German officials said that
customs investigators a week ago
confiscated 12 containers of docu-
ments belonging to IBI Engineering
as part of an inquiry into the U.S.
allegations. West German and Bel-
gian authorities were cooperating in-
the inquiry, the Bonn officials said. .
It was too early to say whether
investigators have obtained "evi-
dence" of illegal exports to Libya,
the government spokesman said
tonight.
Earlier in theday, Reuters
quoted Bonn government sources
as saying that West German author-
ities had evidence that West Ger-
man firms helped Libya build what
the United States says is a chemical
weapons plant.
"We are in possession of evidence
which shows that the American al-
legations are not groundless,"
Reuters quoted a source as saying.
"Imhausen will not be able to extri-
cate itself from the matter now,"
the agency quoted a government
source as saying.
But the government spokesman
said that the sources quoted by
Reuter went "too far," because "we
have no formal report with evi-
dence from the responsible author-
ities."
Chancellor Helmut Kohl's gov-
ernment reacted with a mixture of
deep embarrassment and irritation,
after U.S. officials leaked the name
of the Imhausen firm to U.S. media
late last month. U.S. officials main-
tain that Imhausen, a chemicals and
pharmaceuticals company belonging
to a group with 350 employees,
See BONN, A32, Col. 4
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Rabta
35 miles south
o Trabal
Approved For Release"
BONN, From A29
played a central role in design and
construction of the plant at Rabta,
Libya, the U.S. officials said.
The weekly magazine Stern, in a .
report released today ahead of pub-
lication, named six West German
firms, plus one in East Germany
and another in Austria, which it said
had worked with Libya. ZDF said a
total of 30 companies from West
. Germany, East Germany, Denmark
and other countries were involved.
Stern said it had obtained evi-
dence showing Imhausen provided
Libya with "everything that was
needed to build a chemicals facto-
ry."
The ZDF television network said
Imhausen, through subsidiaries, had
been responsible for most of the
technical interior equipment for the
Rabta plant. ZDF said its reporters
saw "letters and receipts that ap-
pear to be proof" of Imhausen's
role.
The network said it interviewed a
West German businessman who
stated that he had shipped 200 win-
dows to Rabta as part of a deal with
IBI. The executive, Josef Sartorius,
said Barbouti visited his firm in
1987 to discuss the deal.
Barbouti owns IBI Engineering of
Frankfurt, a customs spokesman
said. A Zurich office of IBI also has
been implicated by Washington as
having worked in the Libyan project.
A spokesmen for the government
and the Finance Ministry said that
an inquiry by its Customs Criminal
Institute of IBI Engineering and
Imhausen has not yet found suffi-
cient grounds to open a state pres-
ecutor's investigation.
The announcement today of last
week's customs raid on IBI Eng-
neering contradicted statements
Bonn officials last week that all
quiries were stalled because of lag
of sufficient data from Washington
The documents of the firm, whose
business has been suspended for
several months, were located after
investigators received an anony!
mous tip, Borin officials added.
One official indicated today that.
the government was too hasty early.
last week in saying strongly thae,
evidence was lacking to back up theo
Americans' claims. Asked whether
Bonn now had such evidence, the
official said, "I will not rule it out
because I always was afraid that if
would be like that."
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Employee Reportedly Links
German Firm to Libya Plant
By Robert J. McCartney
Washington Post Foreign Service
BONN, Jan. 24-The West Ger-
man weekly magazine Stern re-
ported today that a West German
chemicals company manager has
told criminal investigators that a
- subsidiary of a state-controlled
company sold blueprints for a fac-
tory knowing that it was to be based
in Libya and was to produce highly
toxic substances.
The United States has charged
that West German companies
helped Libya build a poison gas fac-
tory.
Stern said the witness was a
manager of Imhausen-Chemie
GmbH of Lahr, a company identi-
fied by the U.S. administration as
having played a central role in de-
sign and construction of the plant at
Rabta, Libya. The company has de-
nied the allegations.
The magazine said the Imhausen
witness has "completely opened up"
with investigators. .
Hubertus Voegele, spokesman
for the prosecutor, confirmed by
telephone that an Imhausen em-
ployee has made statements as a
witness to authorities investigating
Imhausen on suspicion of illegal ex-
ports to Libya. Voegele declined to
comment on the substance of the
witness' testimony and would not
identify the Imhausen employee,
who was not named by Stern.
Stern said the witness told inves-
tigators that Salzgitter Industriebau
GmbH, or SIG, a subsidiary of
state-controlled steel group, som
blueprints for the Rabta facility
Imhausen.
In talks between executives
SIG and Imhausen, "it was an open
secret that the ominous Pharmy
150 [plant] was in Libya and not 02
Hong Kong" as SIG has said, Ster
said. Pharma 150 reportedly is the
name both of a pharmaceuticals
plant being built in Hong Kong and
of the controversial portion of the
Rabta industrial complex.
"It was also clear to the SIG ere
perts, according to the Imhausen
witness, that this was not a sma
pharmaceuticals factory, but a large
chemical plant for the production ff
highly toxic substances," Stern said
SIG said today that its employees
"have at no time worked for the prep.
ject in Rabta .... Salzgitter Indus
triebau was always told that Hong
Kong was the site of the plant. Ing
hausen still maintains this today."
POST - 25 Jan's9
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1
Washington Patin Jan 89
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Bonn Concedes Libyan Plant
Can Make Chemical Weapons
By Robert J. McCartney
Washington Post Foreign Service
VIENNA, Jan. 16-West Ger-
, many's government said today for
the first time that it believes that a
controversial factory in Libya will
be able to make poison gas, but it
continued to insist that it only has
indications that West German com-
panies helped build the plant.
In comments to reporters in
Bonn, Finance Minister Gerhard
Stoltenberg also disclosed that
Bonn had obtained information as
early as August of last year that
raised suspicions about possible
West German corporate involve-
ment in building the factory. Pre-
viously, West German officials had
said they were not aware of such
information until October of last
year.
Stoltenberg's statements repre-
sented another step back from West
Germany's initial, irritated rebuff of
U.S. administration allegations that
five West German firms helped con-
struct a chemical arms factory at
Rabta, Libya.
The minister's remarks were
made in part to a news conference,
and in part afterward to a corre-
spondent of the Reuter news agen-
cy in Bonn. His comments were
confirmed in a telephone interview
with his chief spokesman, Karl-
Heinz von den Driesch, in Bonn.
"We have to assume that at this
factory there is a section that will
be able to produce poison gas," Stol-
See GERMANY, A18, Col. 1
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Bonn Changes Position on Libyan Plant
RDP96-00789R000500070001-9
GERMANY, From A1
Stenberg said in Bonn. "This assump-
Sion is based on concrete indications
Cand reports," he said.
Stoltenberg, whose ministry su-
Servises customs" authorities re-
Disponsible for enforcing West Ger-
conan laws against chemical arms
Technology exports, returned Sat-
Cuirday from three days of talks in
Washington, where the Rabta plant
Owas discussed.
Stoltenberg declined to say when
The West German government con-
Sluded that the Rabta facility will
have the capacity to make poison
ogas or what evidence Bonn had ob-
Tained. But he said documents se-
@ured from IBI Engineering, a
Frankfurt-based firm linked to Iraqi
businessman Ihsan Barbouti, "sug-
gested a possible or suspected in-
polvement by German firms in il-
egal activities" in Libya.
For- Release.2809/98/08
The government of Chancellor
Helmut Kohl initially responded to
che U.S. allegations by saying it had
"Seen "no indications or evidence"
that the Rabta plant could make
chemical arms or that any West
German companies had helped in
the factory's construction.
Bonn began to back off five days
ago when a government spokesman
acknowledged that West German
investigators had uncovered "indi-
cations" that two West German
firms may have made unauthorized
exports to Libya.
Stoltenberg said that the Federal
Intelligence Service in early August
informed the customs investigative
agency of possible West German
corporate involvement in the Lib-
yan plant. No inquiry was ordered
at that time, partly because the in-
formation was too vague, Stolten-
berg said.
In addition, the intelligence ser-
vice strongly recommended that no
investigation be opened out of fear
that an inquiry might tip off Im-
hausen-Chemie GmbH of Lahr
about official suspicions, he said.
Imhausen, which has strongly
denied any involvement with the
Libyan factory, has been identified
by the U.S. administration as hav-
ing played a central role in design
and construction of the plant.
Meanwhile, the West German
weekly magazine Stern reported
that a West German state-owned
company had played an important
role in planning the alleged chem-
ical arms plant at Rabta. Such in-
volvement may explain why the
West German government has de-
- layed launching an inquiry, the mag-
azine said.
Stern identified the company as
Salzgitter Industriebau GmbH, or
SIG, which it said was a unit of Salz-
gitter AG of Salzgitter. It quoted a
manager of SIG, whom it identified
as Andreas Boehm, as saying that
the work in question was linked not
to Libya but to a plant in Hong
Kong.
Stern also said that Imhausen
obtained the main computer for the
alleged poison gas plant "in a round-
about fashion" from what the mag-
azine identified as "the U.S. com-
pany Harris." The firm, based in
Melbourne: Fla, specializes in air-
craft and satellite electronics, and
works closely with the U.S. defense
industry, Stern said in a report re-
leased today ahead of publication
later this week.
[The Associated Press quoted
Harris company spokesman as de-
nying the report.]
Ihsan Barbouti, the Iraqi linked to
one of the West German firms im-
plicated in the affair, was quoted
yesterday as making his first public
denial that he was involved in help-
ing to build a chemical weapons
plant in Libya.
Barbouti, 61, was quoted by the
British weekly newspaper Observer
as saying that he had a contract un-
til June 1987 to help build industrial
facilities at Rabta. But he was
quoted as saying that the contro-
versial plant there -which Libya
says is a pharmaceuticals factory-
was not part of his contract and that
he had no financial interest in it.
"That building was 60 percent
finished when I left the site 18
months ago. I don't think they could
have built a chemical weapons fac-
tory without my knowledge," Bar-,
bouti was quoted by the Observer
as saying.
A woman who answered the
phone this evening at what she
identified as Barbouti's London res-
idence said that he was not available
to comment. She said she worked
there and that she did not know
how to reach Barbouti. She hung up
when a correspondent asked for
additional information.
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It ashington 7 ans
9 Jan189
Qaddafi's media coup turns to dust
Peyman Pejman
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
TRIPOLI, Libya - In what was
intended to be a media coup for Lib-
ya's Col. Muammar Qaddafi, the gov-
ernment invited hundreds of corre-
spondents last week to visit the
desert factory that Libya says will
make medicine - and the United
States says will make poison gas.
But when about 200 journalists
called Col. Qaddafi's bluff, the ex-
perience was so embarrassing that
the government delayed Saturday's
visit, held it at dusk, then expelled
the reporters soon afterward.
At least 100 journalists, most ei-
ther American or European, were
put on an afternoon flight to Rome.
However, at least 30 others managed
to stay by avoiding government offi-
cials assigned to keep tabs on them.
Libyan officials allowed them to stay
one more night.
On Thursday, the day after the
United States shot down two Libyan
planes, 30 foreign reporters who
flew in from Rome were sent right
back to Italy.
Libyan officials were clearly re-
luctant to let reporters see the fac-
tory, which was built near the village
of Rabta, 35 miles southwest of the
capital of Tripoli.
But when international clamor
grew too loud, the Libyans organized
a "special tour" for correspondents
Saturday. They refused to disclose
the destination, but it was assumed
- because of Libyan hints - that the
destination would be Rabta.
The outing turned out to be a day
trip to some Roman ruins.
When the tour of the plant was
finally arranged, it only buttressed
AP
A tent is erected in front of a Libyan factory near the village of Rabta, about
35 miles southwest of the capital of Tripoli. Reporters visited the factory
that Libya says will make medicine, and the U.S. says will make poison gas.
the U.S. government's claim that this
is no mere pharmaceutical factory.
For one thing, Rabta is a barren,
remote place, an unlikely location
for a drug factory.
But the clincher was at least a
dozen missile batteries, radar and
anti-aircraft guns in the area,
clearly seen when using binoculars.
Several military jeeps, trucks and
tents were scattered along the
access road.
There was no official visit to the
factory building itself, and few peo-
ple seemed to know exactly where it
was.
From such evidence as the shape
and size of the buildings - and the
security measures around them - it
can be safely assumed that the fac-
tory is a three-story, whitewashed
concrete building in the northern
part of the village, surrounded by
several tents and a man-made earth
embankment sheltering a radar.
Fearful of a U.S. military strike,
the government has placed hun-
dreds of Libyans and foreigners in
the vicinity of the plant, many of
them lacking proper clothing for the
cold. Three truckloads of workers,
one full of Thai men, were leaving
Rabta as the correspondents ar-
rived. .
A Libyan teacher who would not
identify himself said he was "posi-
tive" that the plant was only a medi-
cal one. Asked why he was so cer-
tain, he said, "I know, I read, I [was]
told."
When a correspondent pointed to
the building and asked a Libyan doc-
tor if that was the factory, the ci gotic
response was, "Yes. Whatever you
wish."
A European diplomat who did not
wish to be identified said, "It's Hery
obvious what they are doing toere.
Why would you want to build a phar-
maceutical plant in such a remote
place surrounded by missiles?@
Although the Libyan governghent
has denied reports that the factory
is surrounded by military facilities,
Libyan pharmaceutical experts
working at the plant made r@ at-
tempt to deny the existence ofthe
missiles around the factory.
"We are taking this mattervery;
seriously," said Dr. Idriss Ibrahim.
"In 1986, the Americans bombed
purely civilian targets and killed a
lot of people. There is no reasonwhy
we should not do our best to protect
this plant. That's why the misgiles
are here."
He said the missiles were in-
stalled after remarks by ReagaRad-
ministration officials hinted thapthe
facility may be bombed. "Untipthe
Reagan threat is gone, the missiles
will remain," Dr. Ibrahim said. 8
According to Western diplomatic
sources, Col. Qaddafi summones the
West German ambassador last Week
and asked his government's advice
on how to ease the tension gene@ted
over the issue. Diplomats saienthe
ambassador suggested that Libya let
an international committee inspect
the plant.
In a statement to reporters last
week, Col. Qaddafi said Libya would
accept an international inspection of
his factory if the committee in-
cluded a Libyan representative and
would later inspect all suspected poi-
son gas factories in Israel, Europe
and the United States.
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