Malaysian ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad Thursday backed a police probe clearing the son of his successor in a nuclear black market affair and predicted the issue would not overshadow coming polls.

Mahathir, who retired in October after 22 years in power, described as "unfortunate" a scandal which erupted over Scomi Precision Engineering (Scope), a company owned by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son Kamaluddin.

Scope hit the headlines in February when it was revealed a ship carrying centrifuge parts manufactured by the company were seized on a ship headed for Libya last year after being linked to illegal trade in nuclear weapons.

Kamaluddin's firm was eventually cleared by a police probe which was slammed as a political whitewash by his father's opponents.

The company said it had been misled about the purpose and destination of the parts, which were ordered by an alleged middleman for Pakistan's disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has admitted selling nuclear secrets.

Being misled

Endorsing the investigation, Mahathir said Scope could be forgiven for being mislead on the intended use of their product.

"It's unfortunate. Actually even before this, the Americans had informed us that there is some company in Malaysia producing these stainless steel pipes and all that. As far as we are concerned, they can be used for anything but the Americans actually stopped the shipment," he told AFP in an interview.

"This is something new which I did not know of. I think Scomi is not to be blamed. They got an order to supply these parts. I don't think it is because they want to be involved in the nuclear black market. I think they have no idea."

Mahathir accused the opposition Islamic Party (PAS) of exploiting the case for political mileage ahead of this weekend's general elections.

Asked if this would affect support for Abdullah, he said: "I don't think so." - AFP