German Firm Reportedly Knew Libya Toxic Gas Plan

A West German government-owned company sold plans for a chemical plant in Libya with full knowledge that it was designed to produce toxic substances, a national magazine reported Tuesday.

The weekly magazine Stern said that Salzgitter Industriebau, a subsidiary of the state-owned Salzgitter steelmaking group, was contacted by the West German chemical firm Imhausen-Chemie to draw up blueprints for the plant at Rabta in Libya.

The Imhausen firm is already under criminal investigation for a possible violation of West German law in providing materials to Libya for the plant without an export license. The U.S. government says the plant was designed to produce weapons for chemical warfare. Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi has denied that, saying the plant is for producing pharmaceuticals.

Manager ‘Opened Up’

According to Stern, an unidentified manager for Imhausen-Chemie “completely opened up” to a state prosecutor about the role of his company and others in the design and building of the chemical plant.

The controversy over West German involvement in the plant in Libya, and charges that West German firms were involved in a poison gas factory in Iraq, have created a political scandal for the government of conservative Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

At first, Kohl and his aides denied that there was any West German complicity, but later they were forced to admit the existence of hard evidence of such involvement.

Stern said that Salzgitter was contracted by Imhausen to produce a blueprint for the entire plant. The company said its contract with Imhausen was for a plant in Hong Kong.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for Salzgitter repeated denials that the firm was aware of any link with the Libyan chemical plant.

Stern’s account was made available to the press two days before the magazine was to appear on the newsstands. It said the evidence provided to West German authorities by the Imhausen-Chemie manager constitutes “a decisive step forward” in developing a case against the company.

In early January, when the Imhausen name first came up in this connection, company officials denied any involvement with the Libyan plant. Since then, other reports have surfaced, and the firm’s officials have refused to comment.

The magazine said the Imhausen manager, under questioning by federal authorities, declared that the firm, based in Lahr in southern West Germany, sent Salzgitter precise instructions for the Libyan complex.

The equipment in the plant, the magazine said, had to be designed to withstand the effects of the toxic chemicals that the factory was designed to produce.

Officials of both Salzgitter and Imhausen agreed that they had to maintain complete secrecy, Stern said, and the Salzgitter logo was replaced on the plans by the code name Pharma 150.