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US clears software to Indian 'missile developer'

Despite tough sanctions against India, the US commerce department has allowed an American firm to ship design software to an Indian company that 'makes missiles', says the Journal of Commerce, quoting trade sources.

The decision not to block the software sale to the Bharat Dynamics Ltd came on the same day that President Bill Clinton imposed sweeping sanctions against India after it conducted two additional nuclear weapons tests.

The incident appears to be the result of huge legal loopholes in several US sanctions and export control policies. All are likely to come under scrutiny as US agencies struggle to implement tougher controls on export to India as a result of its nuclear weapons tests, says the daily.

It quotes "sources" saying the shipment of software for designing printed circuit boards by Viewlogic Systems Inc of Marlboro, Massachusetts, was cleared despite a warning to a commerce enforcement official that Bharat Dynamics is involved in the Indian missile programme.

It says the commerce official was told on Wednesday morning that the British government has listed Bharat Dynamics as a missile proliferation risk, a company that has procured goods for missile programmes. But because the company does not appear on a similar US entity list of proliferates, the export was reportedly allowed without an individual validated licence or a review. The goods are believed to have been shipped out the same day by air from New York.

UNI