The Missing Micraligns

In Switzerland, customs officials called the matter "embarrassing." In Washington, the Commerce Department would not confirm that the case was under investigation, but expressed grave concern. In Moscow, KGB officials were believed to be jubilant over a victory on one of the newest frontiers of espionage: the theft of Western industrial technology.

The cause of that fuss was the disappearance of two projection mask aligners (price: $250,000 each) made by Perkin-Elmer Corp. of Norwalk, Conn. The automobile-size machines, called Micralign 200s by Perkin-Elmer, are used in the manufacture of microcircuitry for everything from digital watches to missile guidance systems. Designed ten years ago, the equipment has since been superseded by more advanced models. Nonetheless, the Commerce Department has it on a list of equipment banned for export to Iron Curtain countries. Commerce analysts estimate that 70% of computer microchips made in the Soviet Union are turned out on Western equipment, most of it shipped there illegally.

Perkin-Elmer certainly had no intention of doing that last March, when the company received a routine purchase order for the machines from Favag S.A., a medium-size electronics company in the Swiss watchmaking town of Neuchatel. Recalls Perkin-Elmer Vice President James P. Gregory: "We are fully aware of the importance of this equipment. We did not know Favag, so we reported the order to U.S. Customs, to the Commerce Department and to the FBI." After months of investigation by U.S. agencies, the sale was approved by the Commerce Department; the Micraligns were snipped to Switzerland in August.

As soon as the machines arrived, Favag resold them to another company, Eler Engineering, based in Geneva. Says Marc Villoz, a Favag director: "We pocketed a commission, and Eler got the machines. It's a normal commercial transaction, and we don't know or care where those machines are right now."

The Micraligns were definitely not installed in Eler's Geneva offices. The company has no offices. Like hundreds of firms taking advantage of Switzerland's secretive banking and tax laws, Eler was represented in Geneva by a local lawyer, who has since cut her ties with the company. Eler is, in fact, run from Paris by Joe Lousky, a businessman specializing in import-export arrangements. Says Lousky of the Micralign deal: "This is a highly complicated affair. I have absolutely no way of knowing where those machines are right now." TIME has learned that the Micraligns were shipped to Paris soon after arriving in Switzerland. Then they vanished.

Swiss authorities admit that the case of the missing Micraligns is not unusual. Switzerland, along with Finland and Austria, is among the Soviets' most important sources of improperly obtained Western technology. U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Fred Ikle has warned the Austrian government that unless export controls in that country are tightened, Austria may be denied access to sensitive U.S. industrial goods. Last week Ronald Reagan met Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky in Washington, and a U.S. official subsequently announced that the two countries "will cooperate" on the technology issue. Says a Swiss official: "We will probably never discover where the Micraligns are. Presumably, the Soviets are having a great time taking them apart right now." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.