US firm admits to selling missile parts to China

New York, Jun 15: A New Jersey scrap metal company has admitted to selling surplus Sparrow missile parts to China instead of melting them into metal bars as promised, prosecutors said yesterday.

State Metal Industries pleaded guilty to violating US export laws and its Vice President of purchasing, Michael Dorfman, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Defense Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said in a statement.

The firm won a contract in 2003 to buy missile bodies and antenna sections from the Defense Department.

The parts for the medium-range, radar-guided Sparrow missile were flagged as 'dangerous property' and 'military munitions list items' and meant to be smelted into metal bars, the statement said.

Instead, SMI sold the parts to a company partially owned by the Chinese government, loaded them into a container and sent them to Port Elizabeth to be shipped to China, the statement aid. Customs inspectors discovered them at the port.

The company faces three years of corporate probation and a 0,00 fine while Dorfman faces up to five years of probation and a 0,000 fine. Sentencing is set for September 28.

REUTERS