Melbourne, March 17 (PTI): Two Indian nuclear scientists were denied Australian visa last year on “health and character” grounds as Canberra feared they could access information that could assist “India’s weapons of mass destruction programme”, a media report said today.

Dipankar Mukherjee and Mohammed Afzal, officials in the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, were refused short-stay business visas.

The move was revealed in documents held by a Melbourne-based company, GBC Scientific, that has been involved in a dispute with the government over its equipment export, which Australian officials claim can be used in a nuclear weapons programme, The Age reported.

The two were to go to Australia last April to finalise the purchase of an X-ray machine from GBC’s laboratory. Although the machine was not subject to any export controls, the Barc duo were not allowed entry into Australia.

However, in a letter to GBC, the Australian immigration department refused to divulge reasons for denying visas to the Indian officials and stressed the importance of applicants meeting “Australia’s health and character standards”.

“As part of visa processing, various checks must be undertaken prior to visa grant. This includes mandatory health checks, character and security checking for privacy reasons. I am unable to discuss the reasons why Mukherjee and Afzal’s visa applications were refused,” the department’s acting assistant secretary, Michael Clisby, wrote.

Another letter written on behalf of then foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer argued that the two worked for an organisation that played “a leading role in India’s nuclear weapons research”.

“Knowledge the individuals could acquire in Australia could be of assistance to India’s WMD programme,” assistant secretary for arms control and counter proliferation John Sullivan said.

The episode occurred as the previous John Howard government was negotiating a deal to export uranium to India. The current Kevin Rudd government has ruled out any such deal with New Delhi.

GBC managing director Ron Grey criticised the decision as “hypocritical” as authorities had barred his Indian customers while it was negotiating to sell uranium to India, which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.