The World - News from Feb. 1, 1989

A state-owned West German steel firm said it has evidence that blueprints supplied by its subsidiary for a chemical factory in Hong Kong may have been sent to Libya to help build a reported poison gas plant there. The company, Salzgitter AG, and the Finance Ministry in Bonn said in separate statements that a probe of the Salzgitter subsidiary uncovered a reference to Rabta, Libya, in a 1985 letter from Imhausen-Chemie. Imhausen is already under criminal investigation for its allegedly pivotal role in constructing the plant near Tripoli. “Salzgitter Industriebau, subcontracted by Imhausen-Chemie . . . was obviously deceived” about the location of the planned plant, Salzgitter said.