Ubuntu – bash: using scp in cron job fails, but runs succesfully when run from command line

I am trying to use scp in a bash script run by cron (I am running this on Ubuntu 10.0.4 LTS).

The script works fine (i.e. transfers and copies file1 and file2 to/from the remote server, when I run it from the command line. However, when I run the script as a cron job, it fails.

Th is is what the script looks like:

#!/bin/bash

cd /home/oompah/scripts/tests/
scp -P 12345 file1 oompah@someserver.com:~/uploads

if scp -P 12345 oompah@someserver.com:/path/to/file2.dat local.dat >&/dev/null ; then 
    echo "INFO: transfer OK" ; 
else 
    echo "ERROR: transfer failed" ; 
fi

The error message I get (redirected to a log file) when I run it as a cron job is:

ERROR: transfer failed

The error message I get sent to my mail inbox is:

Permission denied (publickey).
lost connection

Why is happening, and how may I fix it?.

[Edit]

I modified the 1st scp command with an -i command (as suggested by M Jenkins), i also added -v for debug messages. Here is the full debug message log. Hopefully, it can shed some light as to what is going on:

Executing: program /usr/bin/ssh host 12.34.56.78, user oompah, command scp -v -t ~/uploads
OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu6, OpenSSL 0.9.8k 25 Mar 2009
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to 12.34.56.78 [12.34.56.78] port 12345.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /home/oompah/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: Checking blacklist file /usr/share/ssh/blacklist.RSA-2048
debug1: Checking blacklist file /etc/ssh/blacklist.RSA-2048
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu3
debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu3 pat OpenSSH*
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu6
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
debug1: Host '[12.34.56.78]:12345' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /home/oompah/.ssh/known_hosts:3
debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering public key: /home/oompah/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 277
debug1: PEM_read_PrivateKey failed
debug1: read PEM private key done: type <unknown>
debug1: read_passphrase: can't open /dev/tty: No such device or address
debug1: No more authentication methods to try.
Permission denied (publickey).
lost connection
Permission denied (publickey).