Emilia Pires ready to face court

Timor-Leste's minister of finance, Emilia Pires "ready to face court". (Source: Foreign Policy)

Emilia Pires, Timor-Leste's embattled minister of finance, has given a defiant reply to journalist when questioned over allegations of her connection in a government deal involving a company owned by her Australian husband, Warren McLeod. The allegations against her were first made public by Tempo Semanal in an article which accused her of colluding with government officials to award her husband's company, Mac's Metalcraft, with a contract to supply medical equipments to Timor-Leste's national hospital. The case has been forwarded to the court.

When questioned by Timor Post (11/1/2013), a national daily, Pires gave a standard response noting that she was ready to face the court over the allegations. She stated further that these allegations are nothing new and that she has had many others levelled against her in the past albeit without any evidence.

Responding to Pires' comments, the spokesperson for the main opposition party, Francisco Branco, said  that her comments were not unexpected. However Branco stressed that the awarding of the project to the minister's spouse is in clear violation of the procurement law, which bars government officials from making deals with family members. (Tempo Semanal provides an analysis of this procedural breach).

This issue has attracted much attention from the public and also calls for the minister to resign. In December, Timor-Leste's court also handed down a 5 year sentence against the former minister of justice, Lucia Lobato, after she was convicted of corruption (Tempo Semanal).

On another note, but still related
Politicians in Timor-Leste regularly snub local journalists when the latter try to cover scandals like corruption. Tempo Semanal, perhaps the most disliked of all papers in Timor-Leste, which went public on the allegation, has been trying to get the minister to tell her  story but to no avail. Trying to get a politician to sit down for an interview about uncomfortable issues is not as easy as getting them to tell stories about their success. With such serious accusations in the national media one would think that the accused would come out to defend himself, but not in Timor-Leste where such issues are usually ignored until they vanished.

Click "Read more" to read the original Timor Post article.

Jornal Timor Post
Sesta-Feira, 11 Janeiru 2013 

Emilia Prontu Hatan Iha Tribunal 

Ministra Finansas Emilia Pires hateten, nia parte pronto ba hata’an iha Tribunal ba kazu alegasaun ne’ebe hateten nia fo projeitu ba nia la’en. 

Emilia hateten, alegasaun ba nia la’o novidade foun, tan hahu kedas husi tempu governu anterior to’o agora, nia an sempre simu alegasaun oi-oin, maibe realidade laiha faktus. 

“Hau sei la halo komentariu barak, tempu antigu mos sira akuza hau, tan ne’e, hau pronto ba hatan iha Tribunal,” Emilia Pires dehan ba Jornalista sira iha Tower, Fatuhada, Kuarta (09/01), bainhira partisipa inkontru kona-ba orsamentu jeral estadu 2013. 

Emilia tenki, se karik kazu alegasaun dun nia fo projeitu ba nia laen iha ona prosesu laran, nia parte pronto atu submete ba justica, tanba tuir nia laiha ema ida mak sees husi lei nia oin, no boot liu fali lei. 

Tuir informasaun kazu refere oras ne’e rejistu iha Ministeriu Publiku, maibe Ministra Financas Emilia Pires rasik to’o oras ne’e dadaun seidauk simu notifikasaun ruma husi instituisaun refere. 

Iha parte seluk, Deputadua husi bancada FRETILIN Francisco Miranda Branco katak, argumentu ne’ebe maka Ministra Financas Emilia Pires foin dadauk halo, ne’e hanesan defende an de’it. 

“Ita ida-idak sempre buka defende an, maibe ne’e nia direitu tomak, ita lalika kondena maibe, pratika ne’ebe husi desizaun hamosu projeitu ne’ebe alega Ministra fo projeitu ba nia laen, ne’e hatudu katak viola prosesu aprovizionamentu,” Branco hateten.