Wisser received the first of three installments on his commission, deposited into a Zurich bank account at a time when attorneys for his ex-wife were scouring the globe to identify his assets. Later payments were sent to his accounts in Dubai and Liechtenstein.
The initial design drawings from Pakistan were of such poor quality that Meyer complained to Wisser. During one meeting, he pointed to an 18-inch stack of design papers and called it "the beast." Wisser loaned him Geiges to refine the drawings and help supervise the project.
A two-story complex of pipes and pumps grew in Meyer's factory, and he received periodic payments from Dubai.
"It was a very ingenious plant," said Badenhorst, Meyer's lawyer. "It was one of a kind, a work of art."
He said Meyer never tried to conceal the project. The work occurred in an open area of his factory, where visitors could see it.
"He knew he was making a system for uranium enrichment somewhere," Badenhorst said. "He didn't know where."
In late 2000, a specialized lathe capable of making uranium enrichment centrifuges was shipped to Tradefin from a company called Gulf Technical Industries in Dubai, according to shipping records.
Peter Griffin, a British citizen who lives on the French Riviera, set up Gulf Technical Industries, and it is now run by his son, Paul, according to records from the Malaysian police.
The Griffins have not been charged; both have said they had no dealings with Libya or with nuclear equipment.
The lathe was supposed to be used in South Africa to manufacture cylindrical rotors for the 1,000 centrifuges. However, Badenhorst said, this part of the project was abandoned because the specialized steel required for the rotors was not available in South Africa.
The lawyer said the lathe sat in the Tradefin factory for several months before Meyer was told to return the machine to Gulf Technical Industries in December 2001.
U.S. authorities later discovered the lathe in Libya, according to a sworn statement by Capt. Benjamin Nel, head of the South African police investigation.
With the South Africans unable to fulfill that part of the contract, the network had to find another source for the centrifuges. In late 2001, Tahir arranged for their production at a factory outside Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital.
