Taiwan ends probe into reports of illegal sales to Iran

TAIPEI Jan 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan said on Monday it had called off a probe into reports local firms sold nuclear technology to Iran, which the West suspects aims to build nuclear bombs.

An agency under the Taiwan economic ministry pledged the investigation last month due in part to a report in the London Daily Telegraph that said Iran had set up a nuclear-equipment smuggling network using Taiwan companies.

The government has found no evidence that local firms sold anything from a list of 408 banned products to Iran, a project manager with the ministry's Foreign Trade Bureau told Reuters.

"Unless we get a more reliable tip, from an investigation point of view, the case is closed," the manager said.

Intelligence received last month pointed only back to a case wrapped up in March, he said.

That month the government found Taiwan-based Heli-Ocean Technology Co Ltd had agreed to sell 108 pressure transducers to a Chinese firm that would sell them onward to Iran, he said. Transducers convert pressure into electrical signals.

Heli-Ocean had committed no crime but was urged to stop the sales, some of which were still in the pipeline, he said.

The Chinese firm had asked Heli-Ocean for the equipment, which was produced in Switzerland, said company official Steve Lin. "We've stopped," Lin said. "It's already under control."

Iran needs up to 15 nuclear plants to generate electricity, its foreign minister said last month, underlining Tehran's determination to press ahead with a programme the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. [ID:nDAH228379] (Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Jerry Norton)