Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: January 26, 2004
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_547279,00050002.htm
Foreign bank accounts of two senior
Pakistani nuclear scientists, who allegedly received money for passing
nuclear technology to Iran, have been traced by investigators even as the
government ordered all ministries and departments not to invite Dr AQ Khan,
the father of the country's atomic bomb, to any official function.
The foreign bank accounts in which
the proceeds from the transfer of some nuclear technology to Iran have
been deposited were traced back to at least two senior nuclear scientists,
unnamed officials were quoted as saying by local daily The News on Sunday.
These accounts were being operated
through a Dubai-based bank, which has already provided the required information
to Pakistani authorities.
"It is an open and shut case. Their
foreign bank accounts swelled by millions of dollars as the sensitive information
and some hardware reached Iran," one official said.
For investigation and security reasons,
the government sources have not revealed the names of the scientists involved
in the deal. On Saturday the same newspaper hinted at Dr Khan and his close
associate Dr M Farooq.
The government has also instructed
all ministries and departments not to invite Dr Khan to any official function,
the newspaper said.
The decision to allow Dr Khan to
continue as an Adviser to the Prime Minister on Scientific Affairs would
be taken by President Pervez Musharraf who returned from Davos on Sunday
after attending the World Economic Forum.