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| Fugitive accused of selling nuclear secrets to Iraq surrenders Von Paul Geitner - |
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| A German engineer suspected of selling nuclear technology to Iraq was ordered jailed today, a day after he returned home from Brazil and gave himself up so he could visit his terminally ill mother. Karl-Heinz Schaab, a fugitive since January 1996, was arrested at Frankfurt airport Thursday after arriving on a Lufthansa flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Federal prosecutor Kay Nehm said Schaab, who has been under investigation for treason since 1995, is suspected of helping Iraq produce weapons grade uranium in 1989-90. The 64-year-old engineer allegedly sold Iraq construction plans for a uranium enrichment plant for $1.2 million. The plans were found by U.N. inspectors in Iraq. Schaab, who was placed on probation after a 1993 conviction for violating export laws, disappeared from his home in the Bavarian town of Kaufbeuren in January 1996. He was arrested in December that year in Rio de Janeiro while reportedly trying to obtain a permanent visa, but released after 15 months in custody when Brazil's supreme court rejected Germany's extradition request. Early this year, Schaab hired a German lawyer to negotiate his return. Nehm said he told prosecutors he wanted to be allowed to visit his 96-year-old mother, who is terminally ill. "It was his greatest wish to see his mother alive once more," his attorney, Michael Rietz, said in today's Bild newspaper. The two spent two hours together Thursday before Schaab was brought to a Bavarian prison, the newspaper said. He appeared in court today in Munich and was ordered held pending trial. Rietz told Bild that Schaab plans to make a confession. "He helped with the Iraqi nuclear program and realizes today that he has brought a great burden of guilt upon himself," Rietz was quoted as saying. "However, he says he was not the only one involved." Rietz was not in his Muenster office today for comment. In a 1996 interview with Der Spiegel newsmagazine, Schaab admitted providing technical information to Iraq, but said at least four other German nuclear experts also were involved in helping to set up the uranium enrichment plant. The magazine quoted Schaab as saying secret documents were "insufficiently secured by his former employer," the Munich-based MAN company, which produces heavy machinery. Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. News-Times, 25. September 1998 |
