After a two-month probe into charges of nuclear proliferation, Pakistani investigators have found that the father of its nuclear weapons program and a top aide had black-market contacts that supplied sensitive technology to Iran and Libya, intelligence officials said on Wednesday.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, long revered as a national hero, and Mohammed Farooq, former director-general of a key nuclear facility, also have failed to account for funds in their personal bank accounts, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
But both scientists are denying they helped Iran and Libya, the officials said as the investigation nears an end.
"These are the two people who had links and contacts with those who have been supplying many things to those countries who wanted to become nuclear powers," one official said.
Another intelligence official said Khan had been shown documents and other material and had acknowledged his contacts with dealers who worked for him in the past, but he denied he had profited or played any role in supplying technology to either Iran or Libya.
"He says he is the victim of an international conspiracy," the official said.
Critics in Pakistan have accused President General Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, of caving in to international pressure by detaining and interrogating respected scientists who gave the Islamic country its nuclear deterrent against rival India.
The US said on Wednesday it has been assured by Musharraf that Pakistan wasn't involved in the nuclear trade.
"President Musharraf has assured us that, one, that was part of the past, and the past is the past. We've made that very clear," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said on Wednesday in Washington.
There is growing international concern about the "black market" in nuclear technology that circumvents restrictions on its supply.
Pakistan began its investigation into its nuclear program and possible proliferation to Iran in late November after admissions made by Tehran to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog based in Vienna, Austria. Allegations also have surfaced that Pakistani technology spread to Libya and North Korea.
The government has publicly said "one or two people" acted for personal profit, but denies there was any official authorization for nuclear transfers to other countries at any time since the Pakistani nuclear program was launched by Khan in the early 1970s.
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