Toronto, Aug 8 - BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has urged the Canadian government to throw out the sale of Nortel's wireless assets to Sweden's Ericsson to stop a 'national treasure' from falling into foreign hands.

'We felt like we were snookered,' BlackBerry president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis Friday told a parliamentary committee of Nortel's refusal to let his company bid for its wireless business July 28.

Sweden's Ericsson won the auction in New York with its $1.13 billion bid.

The 127-year-old Toronto-based Nortel, which has been a global name in telecom equipment, is liquidating itself to pay creditors after suffering losses of $5 billion last year.

But the BlackBerry maker, which was shut out of bidding for refusing to sign non-disclosure agreements, sought government intervention to stop transfer of crucial technology to a foreign company.

Bowing to pressure, the government asked top guns of RIM, Nortel and Ericsson to give their versions to a parliamentary committee in Ottawa Friday.

Lazaridis told the committee that the government should stop the sale of a 'national treasure' to a foreign company.

He said his company was on the verge of a 'handshake deal' with Nortel and exchanging e-mails on the wording of a press release to announce the deal when Nortel suddenly backed out.

'I think it is very important when you are quickly trying to sell assets -- Canadian assets -- it is important to do due diligence,' he said after his deposition to the committee.

He said the government should take 'due care to make sure that we are not giving these assets away in a way that would be unfavourable towards Canada or its industry'.