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EAST TIMOR: Slow Progress for Corruption Watchdog
By Matt Crook
DILI, Oct 10 (IPS) - A lack of political will to tackle corruption in East Timor is holding the country
back, said Sebastiao Ximenes, East Timor’s Ombudsman for Human Rights and
Justice.
"What all people expect is that our leaders must have a good political will to
fight corruption, but even if we have good legislation, even if we have good
institutions, when we don’t have political will, we cannot fight corruption," he
told IPS from his office in this capital.
Despite handing 28 cases of corruption involving members of the current and
previous governments to the prosecutor general’s office, none have made it
court.
"We don’t have decision power; we just have the power to recommend, so
after our investigation, we forward our final investigation and
recommendations to the prosecutor general’s office," he added. Two further
copies are sent to the prime minister and the complainant in the case, he
said.
Early this month, a leaked report from the ombudsman’s office surfaced in
which Ximenes recommended an investigation be opened into Deputy Prime
Minister Jose Luis Guterres over allegations he abused his power by securing
for his wife, Ana Maria Valerio, a well-paying United Nations job in New York
in 2006.
According to the report Valerio was ineligible for the hefty salary she received
after taking the job as counsel to the U.N. ambassador in New York, because
she was neither a career diplomat nor a citizen of Timor-Leste, as the state is
officially known. It added that she was also not entitled to a housing
allowance.
Guterres, who could be jailed for up to 20 years if convicted of breaking the
laws outlined in the report, returned to East Timor in 2006 to become foreign
minister after serving as ambassador to the U.S. and to the U.N.
The actions of Guterres were "an abuse of power and breached the applicable
laws resulting in irregularities and prejudice to the state in favour of family,"
according to the report.
The deputy prime minister, when phoned by IPS, declined to talk about the
report. But the government on Monday hit back with a statement saying
Guterres "did not, at any time, engage in any act or acts of corruption…
"Valerio had worked helping the Permanent Mission of [East Timor] to the
United
Nations since 2003, when needed, on a pro bono basis. She was awarded the
position on merit and as a temporary provision."
Guterres served as foreign minister under the government of the current
opposition Fretilin party, and in 2006 led a breakaway group, Fretilin
Mudanca, in a failed attempt to take control of the party. This political spat
could have a lot to do with the knives currently out for Guterres.
"Fretilin only made the claims of corruption after Guterres became [Deputy]
Prime
Minister in the IV Constitutional Government, led by Prime Minister Xanana
Gusmao," said the government statement.
For ombudsman Ximenes, who has been in his post for four years, it is likely
another in a long line of shelved reports.
"It happened when [Guterres] was Minister of Foreign Affairs," he said. "I
don’t know if he forgot about the law or maybe had no information about the
law, or maybe his staff provided some misinformation, but what we reported
is what we found."
But it is not just a lack of political will that is hampering progress of
corruption cases in East Timor.
The country needs a separate anti-corruption law, and lawmakers, members
of the government and all high-level civil servants should have to declare
their assets, said Ximenes, adding that the work of his office does not always
get the support it needs.
"Sometimes there is a lack of good cooperation between us and other
institutions," he said. "Our law states that the ombudsman can access every
institution to get information, but sometimes we face problems regarding our
investigation when we want to get documents or information – sometimes
they don’t provide us with it."
Although the ombudsman has strong ties with the prosecutor general’s
office, it is not enough.
"From the side of the prosecutor general’s office, the problem is not that they
are unwilling, but that they are unable," he said. "There is no manpower and
no special prosecutors to deal with corruption cases."
With a backlog of about 5,000 cases at the prosecutor general’s office and
with the state seemingly failing to tackle high-level corruption, the role of
civil society may become even more important.
In August, non-governmental organisation Lalenok Ba Ema Hotu (LABEH)
launched its National Campaign Against Corruption to raise awareness of
corruption issues all over the country.
Speaking at the campaign’s launch in Dili, Guterres himself said, "If
sometimes we say there are cases of corruption, we have to take these to
court so the court can decide who has been involved in corruption, so they
can go to jail and be expelled from the government or the civil service
because the people, after all these years, deserve a better life."
Christopher Samson, LABEH executive director, said, "I could only say that
most of the members of government do not understand what the work of the
ombudsman is.
"It has nothing to do with the law, and therefore those who stood against the
report of the ombudsman did so because it has to do with them personally,"
he added.
(END/2009)
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