Komunikadu Imprensa: ALKATIRI SEI HALAO PROSESU HASORU DIFAMASAUN

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE

FRETILIN
__________________________________________________________________________

KOMUNIKADU IMPRENSA

Dili, 4 Juñu 2008

ALKATIRI SEI HALAO PROSESU HASORU DIFAMASAUN

Ohin FRETILIN haksolok tamba Tribunal Distrital Amérika nian deside husik no taka asaun legal ne’ebé kompañia minarai Oceanic Exploration foti hasoru kompañia amerika nian ne’ebé manan direitu ba esplorasaun minarai iha Tasi Timor. Oceanic alega katak kompañia ne’e manan kontratu tamba sira fó osan súbar ba politiku no ukun nain sira Timor-Leste nian.

Iha alegasaun ida ne’ebé la iha sentidu, Oceanic Exploration alega mo’os katak eis-Primeiru Ministru no Sekretáriu Jeral FRETILIN, Dr. Mari Alkatiri simu dolar amerikanu tokon rua (US$2.000.000) hodi asina no dudu Tratadu Tasi Timor bele lao ba oin.

Dr. Alkatiri hatete ohin katak nia sei halo tuir asaun legal ne’ebé nia foti tiha ona hasoru politiku sira no media ne’ebé uza lia bosok hosi Oceanic Exploration, durante tinan tolu nia laran, hodi buka halo foer nia naran atu sira bele hetan vantajen polítika.

Prezidente FRETILIN, Francisco Guterres Lu’Olo hateten nia haré katak media lokal no estranjeira sira ne’ebé hori uluk tatoli bei’beik lia bosok hasoru Alkatiri, oras nee nonok hotu kona ba desizaun ne’ebé tribunal distrital Amérika foti tia ona semana nen liubá.

Oceanic hamutuk hó nia subsidiaria sira (hó naran hanesan “Petrotimor” foti asaun hasoru kompañia amerikana Conoco Phillips, nebee oras nee kaer kampu minarai boot liu iha Tasi Timor, dehan katak uluk kompañia Phillips Petroleum (nebee ikus mai fila án bá Conoco Phillips) hetan contrato tamba deit halo korupsaun, foo osan hosi kotuk. Sira alega katak Phillips Petroleum (prekursor ba Conoco Phillips) mak hetan kontratu tamba halo subornu – halo korupsaun ho osan fó hosi kotuk..

Iha loron 16 Abril 2008, juíz Lynn N. Hughes hosi Tribunal Distrital Amerikanu, iha Houston, Texas, taka ona asaun legal ne’ebé Oceanic Exploration no Petrotimor foti hasoru Conoco Phillips, Autoridade Nomeada Tasi Timr (TSDA) no seluk ta’an, iha Marsu 2004. Oceanic husu selu sira dolar amerikanu biliaun 30 (US$ 30.000.000.000) .

Fou’foun kedas Dr. Alkatiri nega makás alegasaun sira ne’e no foti prosesu legal hasoru figura polítika sira ne’ebé halo difamasaun públika bei’beik hodi halo foer nia naran.

Lu’Olo hatete ohin nia sempre fiar katak ema halo alegasaun sira ne’e ho motivasaun polítika no katak tribunal sei hamo’os Dr. Alkatiri nia naran.

Lu’Olo hatete: “ Tamba tribunal taka kazu ne’e , desizaun ida ne’e bolu mo’os atensaun ba polítiku sira hanesan daudaun Prezidente Parlamentu, Fernando Araújo Lasama, ne’ebé halo difamasaun ba Dr. Alkatiri . Sira uza alegasaun sira nee arbiru deit hodi eziji Dr. Alkatiri tuun hosi fatin núdar Primeiru-Ministru. Fernando Araújo Lasama no sira seluk tenke husu ona deskulpa ba Dr. Alkatiri no nia família”.

“ Politika hafoer Dr. Alkatiri no nia familia nia naran hahú ho alegasaun sira ne’e ho objetivu atu obriga nia tuun hosi nia kargu Primeiru-Ministru nian”.

“Dr. Alkatiri nega makás alegasaun ne’ebé ema halo arbiru deit hasoru nia, maibé, embaixador estranjeiru balu mo’os repete duni alegasaun sira ne’e hodi tenta hafoer, iha tempu nebaa Primeiru-Ministru, nia naran no reputasaun. Hau hakarak nia atu hetan justisa. Ema ne’ebé halo kamapaña a’at hasoru nia, tenke hamo’os nia naran.”

Lu’Olo hatete katak súsar uituan iha Timor-Leste atu foti no halao solusaun legal tamba haré bá ninia hahalok, hatudu momós katak Prokurador Jeral ida nee polítiku liu.

“Dr Alkatiri hatama tiha ona keixa ida ba Prokurador Jeral iha Dili hasoru Sr. Fernando de Araújo Lasama, núdar Prezidente Partidu Demokrátiku, partidu opozisaun durante tempu governasaun FRETILIN nian ne’ebé Dr. Alkatiri mak sei kaer hela. Biarbá husu dala barak ona, Prokurador Jeral lakoi halao kazu Dr. Alkatiri aprezenta ne’ebé tuir Kódigu Kriminal Timor-Leste, difamasaun ne’e konsidera núdar ofensa kriminal, ”

“Falha ka neglijensia ka rekuza hosi Prokurador Jeral nee hanesan hó motivasaun polítika, hanesan duni hahalok ninian barbarak ona”.

Kontaktu: José Teixeira +670 723 7080, Nilvia Guimarães +670 734 0389

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Media Release: FRETILIN opposes Decree Law creating Economic Stabilization Fund

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE

FRETILIN

Media Release

June 2, 2008

FRETILIN opposes luxury vehicles for MPs

FRETILIN has criticised a proposal by Timor Leste’s ruling coalition to give each of the impoverished country’s 65 members of parliament a new luxury Toyota Prado 4WD vehicle, costing USD$39,000 each.

“This arrogant and selfish move by the AMP coalition is a scandal when most Timorese live on a dollar a day and many lack basic necessities such as adequate food, water and electricity,” said FRETILIN parliamentary leader Aniceto Longuinhos Guterres on behalf of all FRETILIN MPs.

The proposal to buy the vehicles was put forward last week by the AMP President of Parliament, Fernando Araujo Lasama, and Vice-President of the Parliament Vicente Guterres.

Aniceto Guterres said acquisition of the 65 vehicles was not provided for in the current budget, meaning funds would have to be diverted from other spending programs. He said parliament had already approved a smaller budget to buy fewer and cheaper vehicles, to allow parliamentary committees to work more effectively.

“However, AMP MPs have insisted that parliamentarians be given one luxury vehicle each, to be fully maintained by the State, claiming that it is a question of maintaining the ‘dignity’ and ‘importance’ of MPs. We reject that totally,” added Guterres.

“During the last parliament there were fewer vehicles available for MPs to undertake committee work, yet the committees did more work more effectively than they do now.

“MPs already receive US$10 per day as transport assistance. That is sufficient compensation for us to undertake our work as MPs.”

Guterres said Fernanda Borges, leader of the National Unity Party (known by its Portuguese acronym PUN), has also rejected the Toyota Prado largesse proposal.

“In contrast, many AMP MPs have complained about the delay in acquiring and delivering the luxury vehicles, declaring that, if they are not forthcoming, then they will not attend parliament, including when the AMP de facto government brings the proposed Budget to parliament early next month.

“We encourage those AMP MPs to act on their threat, because we believe the foreshadowed budget is irresponsibly and unnecessarily large.

“We will seek the support of all MPs, including certain disenchanted AMP MPs, to work with us to make the Budget more responsible and directed at effectively providing sustainable development for our people and nation, instead of lurks and perks for politicians.”

Guterres said there had been rumors that a ‘development partner’ of Timor-Leste has proposed topping up the budget’s vehicle allocation to pay for the Toyota Prados.

“FRETILIN calls on donor countries not to engage in such inappropriate, irresponsible and insensitive support. Luxury vehicles for MPs are not poverty eradication - pure and simple,” Guterres concluded.

Contact: Jose Teixeira +670 728 7080, +61 438 114 960; Nilva Guimaraes +670 734 0389

Petrotimor v. ConocoPhillips lawsuit dismissed by United States District Court

Petrotimor v. ConocoPhillips lawsuit dismissed by United States District Court

By Charles Scheiner, La'o Hamutuk
2 June 2008

On 16 April 2008, Judge Lynn N. Hughes of the U.S. District Court in Houston, Texas dismissed the 30-billion-dollar lawsuit brought by Petrotimor and its parent company Oceanic Exploration against ConocoPhillips, the Timor Sea Designated Authority (TSDA) and others in March 2004. Although the Timorese and international media repeatedly reported on Petrotimor's sensational charges (including alleged ConocoPhillips bribing of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri) over the last four years, the final judgment rejecting the lawsuit has not been reported anywhere in the six weeks since it occurred.

For more information and links to Judge Hughes's ruling and other key documents, see www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Oceanic/OcexConocoLawsuit.htm .

Legal Process

In the U.S., any individual, group or company can file a civil case against anyone else without providing evidence or proof before the case is heard. Often, such cases are privately negotiated away in an out of court settlement, with the defendant (the person being sued) paying the plaintiff (the person bringing the suit) to drop the case. That did not happen in this case.

A lawsuit like this goes through several phases before the alleged wrongdoing is evaluated:

1. After determining that correct procedures have been followed and the court has jurisdiction, the judge decides if each of the defendants' wrongful actions would have caused harm to the plaintiffs, assuming that the facts are as the plaintiff claims. In this case, the judge ruled that some defendants, including the TSDA, could not be responsible even if everything the plaintiff charged was true, but allowed the case to proceed against ConocoPhillips.

2. Then, still assuming everything the plaintiff charges is true, the judge evaluates whether the harm that the plaintiff claimed was done to them was caused by the defendants' alleged actions, and whether that harm would not have occurred if the defendants had not acted improperly. This case was dismissed because the judge found Oceanic's claim of harm implausible, and did not believe that Oceanic would have secured rights to develop Timor Sea oil even if the defendants had not done what Oceanic claimed.

3. If the judge had found that Oceanic's rights were injured by ConocoPhillips' alleged actions, the court would then have heard witnesses and evaluated evidence to determine if ConocoPhillips had actually done the misdeeds claimed by Oceanic. However, this case was dismissed before that became necessary.

4. Finally, if the court had found that wrongdoing by the defendant had injured the plaintiffs, it would have ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff.

Chronology

In 2004, the U.S. company Oceanic Exploration and its Petrotimor subsidiary filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against ConocoPhillips, the Timor Sea Designated Authority (TSDA), Pertamina and others. The civil lawsuit initially alleged that ConocoPhillips benefited illegally from the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste, and that ConocoPhillips (then known as Phillips Petroleum) bribed Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and other Fretilin officials to continue contracts it had signed with the Australian-Indonesian Timor Gap Joint Authority during the illegal Indonesian occupation, rather than have a new bidding process in 2002 or revoke Indonesian-era contracts in favor of Portuguese-era ones. Oceanic claimed that in 1974 Portugal awarded it an exclusive exploration contract for the entire Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA), and that ConocoPhillips' illegal activities deprived Oceanic of its legal right to exploit Timor Sea Oil. Although Oceanic alleged that Timorese officials took bribes, it did not name any Timorese as defendants in the lawsuit

The case was filed in U.S. Federal District Court in Washington, DC and assigned to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. Oceanic demanded US$10.5 billion in damages, multiplied by three because they claimed that racketeering and corruption deprived them of their rights. Their allegations got a lot of media coverage, and were immediately denied by the Prime Minister and others.

A year later, Judge Sullivan rejected Oceanic's initial complaint, and Oceanic filed a revised version on 1 March 2005, dropping some allegations and adding others.

In September 2006, the judge dismissed the case against the TSDA and subsidiaries of ConocoPhillips, but allowed it to proceed against the parent ConocoPhillips company. ConocoPhillips responded to the substantive allegations the following month, and asked that the case be transferred to Houston, Texas.

In February 2007, Judge Sullivan agreed to move the case to Texas, where it continued before judge Lynn N. Hughes. Some hearings and filings took place over the next four months.

Dismissal

On 16 April 2008, Judge Hughes dismissed the entire case, issuing a final judgment on 22 April. About the bribery allegations, he wrote

Oceanic’s asserts abstract operative facts – bribery, hostility, causation, and damage. It supports the abstractions with over 50 pages of trivia. The details are not cogent; we are left with a metaphysical leap from this list of gossip and debris of ConocoPhillips’ working in the region to Oceanic’s particular interpretation of why it lost in Timor. For instance, Oceanic pleads that the president of ConocoPhillips flew to East Timor to hand an official a suitcase of cash. Implausibility aside, Oceanic simply can not link this fact with its injury. That is, it can not possibly have an idea why the president of an international corporation would personally deliver cash in a briefcase to an official of East Timor. It has assumptions – nothing more.

Judge Hughes concluded:

Oceanic speculates that absent the bribery:
* East Timor would have chosen to abrogate the concessions.
* Australia would have acquiesced.
* East Timor would have reopened bidding.
* Oceanic would have been permitted to bid.
* Oceanic would have won the bid.
* Oceanic would have profitably developed the concession.
To recover, Oceanic must show what would have happened absent the bribe to a high degree of probability. It can not. Assuming ConocoPhillips bribed officials of East Timor not to reopen bidding, the decision was made not by any one official but by an entity representing all of East Timor. This court will not imagine the decision-making process of East Timor, Australia, Indonesia, Oceanic, and dozens of oil companies.
In Oceanic’s long complaint – twice amended, not counting its practice run in the Australian courts – it has not pleaded facts that, if true, show its injury is connected to the acts it describes. If ConocoPhillips acted corruptly in East Timor, Oceanic was injured in common with oil companies, consumers, and the rule of law everywhere.
Assuming its facts – as opposed to assumptions and contentions, legal theories, and demands – to be true, Oceanic Exploration Company’s pleadings do not show that the wrongful acts of ConocoPhillips and ConocoPhillips Company proximately caused the harm it claims.
Oceanic may well have been the victim of international politics in 1974 when it lost its Portugese concession to the Indonesian invasion. It cannot recover for its losses to political risk 30 years ago – not from Indonesia, not from ConocoPhillips.
Oceanic Exploration Company and Petrotimor Companhia de Petroleos, S.A.R.L. will take nothing from ConocoPhillips and ConocoPhillips Company.

Oceanic appealed the decision to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on 15 May 2008.

Although this case, including Oceanic's detailed allegations, has been on the public record for more than four years, no prosecuting authority anywhere brought criminal charges against anyone named by Oceanic's allegations. Most likely, prosecutors in the United States, Australia and elsewhere did not find the allegations of bribery, racketeering and corruption credible enough to bring alleged perpetrators to trial.

***********************************************************
La'o Hamutuk (The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis)
P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste (East Timor)
Telephone: +670-3325013 or +670-734-0965 mobile
email: cscheiner@igc.org website: http://www.laohamutuk.org skype: cscheiner

Media Release: Timor-Leste faces new institutional crisis

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE

FRETILIN

Media Release

31 May 2008

Timor-Leste faces new institutional crisis

Early this week, on May 27, the Social Democratic Association of Timor, with five MPs, withdrew from the Parliamentary majority coalition, AMP, providing a trigger for President Jose Ramos Horta to dissolve the Gusmão government and ask another party to try to form a workable majority.

José Reis, Assistant Secretary General of Timor-Leste's largest party, FRETILIN, said today that Timor-Leste has entered a new institutional crisis, which must be resolved quickly if the country is to regain stability and security.

ASDT entered a political alliance with FRETILIN on May 1 and signed a joint program on May 8, citing incompetence and corruption on the part of the AMP de facto government.

FRETILIN has 21 MPs, its ally KOTA/PPT has two MPs, and Fernanda Borges' PUN has three. The combined vote of CNRT, PD (Democratic Party), PSD (Social Democratic Party) and Undertim (comprising of some veteran fighters) is 34, still a majority in a parliament of 65.

However, PSD, with six MPs, is also now highly critical of CNRT.

“If the AMP, to which the President of the Republic gave his confidence to form government, has fallen, it means that Mr Gusmao’s party, CNRT, will have to seek to form a new alliance and form a new government,” Reis said.

“It really does depend on the President as to whether he continues to give confidence to Mr Gusmao to continue as head of government or give someone else the opportunity,” Reis added.

“In August 2007 President Ramos-Horta invited Mr Gusmão as leader of the AMP to form government, because he was able to cobble together a post-election coalition made up of disparate political groups and parties, many bought off by positions in the government. Mr Gusmao managed to find only a narrow majority in the parliament.

“We always believed the AMP would not last, and in less than a year we can see that its slim majority has now been eroded by the withdrawal of ASDT. That’s why we pushed for the creation of a government of grand inclusion, with a prime minister chosen with the consensus of all parties, but with government posts being selected in proportion to parliamentary seats held.

“Now we have a very unstable and undesirable situation, which must change if Timor-Leste is to get back on track.

“ASDT has traditionally been a very united and disciplined political force. We expect them to continue to behave accordingly and respect Mr Xavier do Amaral, their party President, the man who was a founder of the first ASDT and who proclaimed National Independence in 1975,” said Reis.

Reis stressed that the ASDT move to quit the AMP demonstrates that the AMP leadership does not value the historic role of parties that led the struggle for Timor-Leste's independence from Indonesia.

“ASDT have made it clear that they have been ignored. ASDT also have made it clear that they have not been happy with the policy direction of the AMP de facto government. They clearly say there has been no benefit to the people from the large budgets that have been approved by the parliament and yet no one seems to know where the money has gone.”

Contact: Jose Teixeira  +670 728 7080, +61 438 114 960; Nilva Guimaraes +670 734 0389

 

The ASDT statement of May 27 reads in full as follows:

DECLARATION OF POLITICAL POSITION

ASDT PARTY

No.06/V/P.ASDT/2008

Given the current situation and the political stance of the AMP government that at this time no longer benefits the people of Timor-Leste, and least of all members and supporters of the ASDT Party.

Given also that the ASDT Party has put forward to the AMP government a proposal as follows:

1. Persons to substitute the Minister and Secretary of State (Mr Gil Alves and Mr Abilio Lima),
2. Persons who should be nominated to posts such as ambassador,
3. Persons who should be nominated Interim Administrators in Districts and Sub-Districts where the ASDT Party won majorities in the parliamentary election.

To date no response has been received from the Prime Minister to the proposals made.

The political dynamics as a result of the impact of the economic crisis, such as the constantly rising price of everyday basic necessities have made the Maubere people unhappy and lose confidence in the AMP government.

The situation caused by the fact that the people are not seeing anything concrete from the large amounts of money that we have all heard was approved by the National Parliament for the General Budget of the State in order to help with the development of our people, and we all ask, where has it all gone? The ASDT Party sees the current very difficult living conditions of the people, and the National Executive Council (CNE) therefore states the following:

1. It declares to the people that they can no longer blame the ASDT Party, because as they can see for themselves the ASDT Party's representatives no longer participate in the AMP Government;
2. It declares to the people that starting today, the 27th of May 2008, whenever the AMP Government does anything that negatively affects the people, they should ask the CNRT, PD and PSD Parties directly because the ASDT Party is no longer responsible and no longer participates in the decisions taken by the AMP government, as the AMP Government has shown no consideration for the views expressed by the ASDT Party.

Dili this 27th day of the month of May in the year 2008.

The National Executive Council of the ASDT Party:

Francisco Xavier do Amaral

President of ASDT Party

Francisco Gomes

Secretary General

 

 

 

LUSA: Alkatiri pede a Presidente angolano para ajudar a ultrapassar crise

Lusa - 31 de Maio de 2008, 16:23

Timor-Leste: Alkatiri pede a Presidente angolano para ajudar a ultrapassar crise política timorense

Lisboa - O secretário-geral da FRETILIN, Mari Alkatiri, pediu ajuda ao Presidente angolano, José Eduardo dos Santos, para ultrapassar a crise política institucional em Timor-Leste, adianta hoje a edição online do Jornal de Angola.

Segundo o jornal, o líder da Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente, que foi recebido sexta-feira pelo Presidente angolano, considera que, tendo em conta a sua experiência na resolução de conflitos em África, os conselhos de José Eduardo dos Santos podem ser úteis.

Em declarações aos jornalistas no final do encontro, Mari Alkatiri disse que a situação política em Timor-Leste tem melhorado e já não há violência, mas a crise não está resolvida por persistir a "contradição no seio da liderança nacional", cita o Jornal de Angola.

Resolver o problema dos mais de 100.000 deslocados, das deserções nas Forças Armadas e da articulação desta instituição com a Polícia Nacional contribuirá, segundo Alkatiri, para ultrapassar a crise política em Timor-Leste.

Sobre o actual primeiro-ministro timorense, Xanana Gusmão - que fundou um novo partido que governa em coligação - Mari Alkatiri considerou que "não tem legitimidade para governar", declarando-se preocupado com a sua "falta de competência" para dirigir o executivo, ainda segundo o Jornal de Angola.

O líder da FRETILIN declarou igualmente que a relação entre o Presidente timorense, José Ramos-Horta, e o primeiro-ministro "tem sido difícil".

Mari Alkatiri, antigo primeiro-ministro de Timor-Leste, estará segunda-feira em Lisboa para proferir a conferência "Timor no Caminho do Futuro", promovida pela Comissão Asiática da Sociedade de Geografia e pelo Instituto Luso-Árabe para a Cooperação.

Após a conferência Alkatiri, receberá a Medalha de Mérito da Cooperação daquele Instituto.

PAL-Lusa/fim

Media Release: FRETILIN exposes wholesale land giveaway by Agriculture Minister

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE
FRETILIN

Media Release
May 29, 2008


FRETILIN exposes wholesale land giveaway by Agriculture Minister

The Deputy Leader of FRETILIN, Francisco Miranda Branco, on Tuesday (27 May) called on the de-facto Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Mariano Sabino, to release all details of a deal he signed with Indonesian company GTLeste Biotech to give away 100,000 hectares of agricultural land for sugarcane cultivation and to build a sugar and ethanol processing plant. FRETILIN is the largest party in Timor-Leste’s National Parliament.

The deal gives exclusive rights to GTLeste Biotech to grow and process sugarcane and to sell and export sugar and ethanol in and from Timor-Leste for a period of 50 years, with an option for a further 50 years. Timor Leste has an estimated arable land area of 400,000 hectares, so the GTLeste Biotech deal alienates 25% of the arable land to biofuel production.

Branco and others criticized the deal as being non-transparent and not in the national interest, because one company has been given exclusive rights to an industry and land for 100 years without other potential bidders having had the opportunity, and because of its impact on food security.

“To keep the deal so secretive violates every principle of good governance and the public interest, not to mention the national interest,” said Branco.
But it is not the only deal which has been questioned in parliament. Last month, the President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Mario Carrascalao MP, queried a deal allegedly signed by the same Minister for 200,000 hectares to plant rubber trees, in addition to the GTLeste Biotech deal.

“We share Mr Carrascalao's concerns. But because we were unable to obtain a copy of the agreements from the government, we have been unable to scrutinize the benefits and value of the agreements. Now that we have a copy of the agreement, it is clear why the minister and the government have kept the agreement away from public scrutiny,” explained Branco.

“Given our alarm at the GTLeste Biotech, we are extremely anxious about what is in the agreement to give 200,000 hectares for rubber tree planting. It has been even more secretive. No substantial details have yet been made available to either the parliament or civil society, despite requests. There is no transparency in how the de facto government deals with these questions,” stressed Branco.

“FRETILIN contends that if the second agreement does give away 200,000 hectares to a foreign company, then this minister has given away nearly five percent (5%) of our total land mass in less than his first year as Minister without any opportunity whatsoever for public scrutiny of these deals.

“At this rate, if this minister remains in his post for a full five years, he could well give away close to half of the country to foreign interests. During the election campaign we warned that this minister's party, the Democratic Party, favored too much the access by large foreign investors to Timor-Leste. It seems we were very right, unfortunately,” added Branco.

“The Prime Minister announced his intention to establish an anti corruption commission. If that ever gets up and running, this deal with GTLeste Biotech would be among the first matters it would have to investigate. FRETILIN is considering requesting the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice, the constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog, to investigate this deal,” said Branco in closing.

Contact: Jose Teixeira +670 728 7080; Nilva Guimaraes +670 734 0389

Media Release: FRETILIN welcomes President's call for respect for Petroleum Fund, commits to cooperation

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE
FRETILIN

Media Release
May 26, 2008


FRETILIN welcomes President's call for respect for Petroleum Fund, commits to cooperation

Dili: The leader of the FRETILIN parliamentary group, Aniceto Guterres, has welcomed calls from President Jose Ramos-Horta for the de-facto AMP government to operate within the existing petroleum fund laws and not to unnecessarily and unilaterally withdraw additional revenue from the Fund.

"FRETILIN supports the president and what he said regarding the management of petroleum receipts and budget preparation and execution," said Guterres. FRETILIN is the largest party in the National Parliament.

In his speech to the nation on the sixth anniversary of Timor-Leste's restoration of independence on 20 May 2002, President Ramos-Horta praised the work by the Alkatiri government in establishing a strong petroleum revenue stream for the people of Timor-Leste.

This was President Horta's second major address since returning from Australia after having survived an attempt on his life on February 11, 2008

Dr Ramos-Horta said: "…we should acknowledge the success of the negotiations regarding petroleum, which culminated in the Timor Sea Treaty and the creation of the Petroleum Fund, an institution recognized internationally as among the best in the world.

"At this time, we have a Petroleum Fund with nearly USD$3 billion that can be utilized by the current government, without needing to amend the law in force, as long as the government can demonstrate its capacity to bring about good budget management and execution, and it can put forward convincing plans and programs to the mandated institutions," President Ramos-Horta added.

Mr Guterres commented: "These are very clear and strong indications of the President's desire to see a responsible, inclusive and consultative approach to ongoing management of the National Petroleum Fund establishment by the FRETILIN government. It reflects what we have been saying since the fund began in 2005 and when we opposed Mr Xanana Gusmao's calls for amendments and more money to be used from the petroleum fund. These statements by the President clearly support our prudent and realistic approach to revenue management and budgeting."

In November 2007 Timor-Leste's much praised Petroleum Fund was ranked No. 3 in the world out of 32 similar state-owned funds in 28 countries, by the renowned Washington think tank, the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It has been widely acclaimed by international donors, the multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and IMF and other international experts, for its transparency, accountability and security.

The current Petroleum Fund Law is also domestically valued and respected, having attained national consensus in its establishment. It won unanimous approved in the previous parliament, with every political party (except CNRT) which is now represented in today's parliament voting in favor of it, though current CNRT members of parliament who were in the last parliament (as members of other parties) also voted for it.

"No changes should be made to this petroleum fund institution and petroleum revenue management framework without undertaking an equally wide public consultation process over the same period of time. Any legislative amendments without this will lack legitimacy. However, we also believe that the de-facto government would find it hard to get the numbers to make any of the proposed changes," added Gueterres.

One changes would allow the government to take more revenue annually to have a larger budget. The current budget is already twice the last FRETILIN government budget and four to five times the average budget FRETILIN had available for 2004-2006.

"FRETILIN stands by its election promise to strongly defend Timor-Leste's Petroleum Fund from irresponsible and wasteful spending raids by the de-facto AMP government. They have delivered nothing for the poor of our country despite having had two huge budgets between August 2007 and today. But what we now see are only a lot of new cars, a lot of corruption, a lot of handouts that do not benefit all of the very needy in our society, and a very few from the business and political elite getting very rich. We see the diversion of resources away from those who truly need them, but little for the people," said Guterres.

"As President Ramos-Horta said, they have to demonstrate better budget execution and acceptable plans and programs to the parliament and society. We agree with that. It is too dangerous to the Petroleum Fund to do otherwise until these assurances are in place. We will hold the de-facto government accountable in the parliament on this," added Guterres.
In his first address to the National Parliament on his return from Australia after the February 11 attempt on his life, President Ramos-Horta asked the AMP de-facto government to utilize the extensive governance knowledge and experience of former FRETILIN ministers, such as Dr Mari Alaktiri, Estanislau da Silva, Jose Teixeira and Ana Pessoa to address the critical question of how to ensure the petroleum fund revenues are used to help the poorest of the poor in Timor-Leste, in light of the current world food price crisis.

"FRETILIN has stood ready to work together with all the political forces in our country to find a consensus-based approach to try to resolve the nation's problems and overcome the challenges before us all as Timorese," said Guterres.

"In his May 20 address to the FRETILIN faithful, which also included the presence of a number of foreign ambassadors, our Secretary General, Dr Mari Alkatiri, publicly stated that he is prepared to meet at any time with Mr Xanana Gusmao to discuss how we can all move the country forward. He awaits Mr Gusmao's response," concluded Guterres.

Contact: Jose Teixeira +670 728 7080;
Nilva Guimaraes +670 734 0389

Angola: Fretilim Secretary General in Country

Angola: Fretilim Secretary General in Country

Angola Press Agency (Luanda)

26 May 2008

Posted to the web 26 May 2008

Luanda

The general secretary of East Timor's ruling FRETILIM [sic] party, Mári Alkatiri arrived Sunday evening in the country in light of the existing bilateral relations between that party and Angola's ruling MPLA party.
Mári Alkatiri did not speak to the press on his arrival, but promised to do so at the end of the four-day visit.
According to MPLA's secretary of the foreign affairs, Paulo Teixeira Jorge, who was at Luanda's "4 de Fevereiro" International Airport to welcome the East Timorean politician, said that FRETILIM expressed interest to visit Angola to carry out an objective analysis of the current situation in East Timor, after the dramatic events that occurred.
The director of the department of foreign affairs, Nelo Rua was with Paulo Jorge at the airport.

Media Release: FRETILIN expresses solidarity with victims of China earthquake

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE

FRETILIN

Media release
16 May 2008

FRETILIN expresses solidarity with victims of China earthquake

FRETILIN, the largest political party in Timor-Leste (East Timor), has
expressed its solidarity with the families of the victims of the
earthquake in south western China which has left more than 50,000
people dead.

FRETILIN Secretary General Mari Alkatiri said, "The earthquake in
China is a tragic event and we support all reconstruction efforts to
help the region recover."

"We also reiterate our full solidarity to the People and Government of
People's Republic of China and to the Communist Party of China in
their efforts to assist the in the region to recover from the
destruction" added Mari Alkatiri

The earthquake which measured 7.9 on the richer scale hit the
southwestern province of Sichuan on Monday (12 May) afternoon.

For more information, please contact:

Jose Teixeira (+670) 728 7080

Media Release: FRETILIN MPs walk out of parliament in protest

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE
FRETILIN

Media Release
May 7, 2008

FRETILIN MPs walk out of parliament in protest

FRETILIN MPs walked out of yesterday afternoon's session (Tuesday 6 May 2008) of Timor Leste's Parliament in protest at attempts to prevent questioning of two government ministers involved in dubious commercial transactions worth many millions of dollars.

FRETILIN said the President of the National Parliament, Fernando Lasama Araujo misused parliament’s standing orders to restrict questioning of the Mr Mariano Sabino, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, and Mr Gil Alves, Minister for Tourism, Commerce and Industry, to one question per party.

FRETILIN parliamentary leader Aniceto Guterres said today he wanted to ask the Minister for Tourism, Commerce and Industry why a multi million dollar contract for rice importation was single sourced instead of through an international tender.

“The de facto Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries needs to confirm or deny reports that he has signed agreements granting foreign companies 300,000 hectares for rubber plantations and another 100,000 hectares for sugar cane for bio fuel, when our people are facing high prices for all food commodities and our country is still importing most of its rice needs,” Guterres said.

Guterres accused parliamentary President Lasama of misusing standing orders to protect the de facto Ministers and the de facto AMP government from being held accountable to the people's representatives on these very serious questions.

“This is contrary to parliamentary rules and the practice in the previous parliament. This is an undemocratic trend and shows how desperate the de facto government’s allies are becoming in the face of a wave of allegations of maladministration and highly questionable deals involving government tenders worth many millions of dollars,” added Guterres.

“These latest cases of maladministration follow revelations that Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres, used public funds to increase his wife’s salary as a diplomat in New York, whilst he was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. The money was used to purchase a grand piano.

“For over one week we have formally requested the parliament to call the de facto AMP government to attend parliament to respond to our queries about the level of success in spending the budget for the transitional period 1 July to 31 December 2007. But to date we have had no response. Given the restrictions by the President of the Parliament yesterday, we fear that our efforts to hold the government accountable on budget execution will be similarly thwarted,” said Guterres.

Despite the lack of quorum once FRETILIN and ASDT were not present, the parliament continued to proceed, another serious issue with the conduct of the President of the Parliament.

Contact:

Jose Teixeira +670 728 7080
Nilva Guimaraes +670 734 0389

Comunicado de Imprensa: Deputados da FRETILIN abandonam o parlamento em protesto

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE
FRETILIN

Comunicado de Imprensa
Maio 7, 2008

Deputados da FRETILIN abandonam o parlamento em protesto

Deputados da FRETILIN abandonaram ontem a sessão da tarde (Terça-feira 6 Maio 2008) do Parlamento de Timor-Leste em protesto por tentativas de evitar o questionamento de dois ministros do governo envolvidos em transacções comerciais duvidosas no valor de muitos milhões de dólares.

A FRETILIN disse que o Presidente do Parlamento Nacional, Fernando Lasama Araújo usou mal as regras em vigor no parlamento para restringir o questionamento do Sr Mariano Sabino, Ministro da Agricultura e Pescas e Sr Gil Alves, Ministro do Turismo, Comércio e Indústria, a uma pergunta por partido.

O líder parlamentar da FRETILIN Aniceto Guterres disse hoje que queria perguntar ao Ministro do Turismo, Comércio e Indústria porque é que um contracto de muitos milhões de dólares para importação de arroz foi feito com um único fornecedor e não através dum concurso internacional.

“O Ministro da Agricultura e Pescas de facto precisa de confirmar ou negar relatos de que assinou acordos para dar a companhias estrangeiras 300,000 hectares para plantações de borracha e outros 100,000 hectares para cana de açúcar para bio-combustível, quando o nosso povo está a enfrentar altos preços para bens alimentares e o nosso país está ainda a importar a maioria do arroz que precisa,” disse Guterres.

Guterres acusou o Presidente do parlamento Lasama de usar mal as regras em vigor para proteger os Ministros de facto e o governo AMP de facto de serem responsabilizados pelos representantes do povo nestas questões graves.

“Isto é contrário às regras parlamentares e à práctica no parlamento anterior. Esta é uma tendência não democrática e que mostra como estão a ficar desesperados os aliados do governo de facto perante uma vaga de alegações de má-administração e de negócios altamente questionáveis envolvendo encomendas do governo no valor de muitos milhões de dólares,” acrescentou Guterres.

“Estes últimos casos de má-administração seguem-se a revelações de que o Vice-Primeiro-Ministro José Luis Guterres, usou fundos públicos para aumentar o salário da mulher como diplomata em Nova Iorque, quando ele era Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros e Cooperação. O dinheiro foi usado para comprar um piano de cauda longa.

“Durante mais de uma semana requeremos formalmente ao parlamento para chamar o governo AMP de facto para comparecer no parlamento para responder às nossas perguntas acerca do nível de sucesso nos gastos do orçamento para o período transitório de 1 Julho a 31 Dezembro 2007. Mas até à data não tivemos nenhuma resposta. Dadas as restrições levantadas pelo Presidente do Parlamento ontem, receamos que os nossos esforços para responsabilizar o governo pela execução do orçamento sejam igualmente frustrados,” disse Guterres.

Apesar da falta de quórum uma vez que a FRETILIN e a ASDT não estiveram presentes, o parlamento continuou em funcionamento, o que é outra questão grave na conduta do Presidente do Parlamento.

Contacto:

José Teixeira +670 728 7080
Nilva Guimarães +670 734 0389