FRETILIN - MEDIA RELEASE

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DE TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE - FRETILIN

Media Release
Dili, Wednesday, 15 April 2009

World Bank, AusAID asked to clarify Timor Leste Finance Ministry appointments.

FRETILIN, the largest party in Timor-Leste’s parliament has written to the World Bank and AusAID seeking access to documents regarding the recruitment of advisors and consultants by the Minister of Finance, Ms Emilia Pires.

FRETILIN Vice President Arsenio Bano MP told journalists in Dili today the World Bank and AusAID fund the advisor jobs, but the Gusmao government refuses to give parliament details of the appointments.

Bano said the FRETILIN letter reflects a growing concern by MPs, including from the government’s own ‘Parliamentary Majority Alliance’ (AMP) bloc, regarding the recruitment process, qualifications and salaries of many of these advisors and consultants.

Two AMP chiefs - the Democratic Party’s (PD) deputy leader, Rui Menezes and the Social Democratic Party's (PSD) leader, Fernando Gusmão – on March 30 called for a parliamentary committee to inquire into the controversial recruitment of national directors for the ministry, including the involvement of politically appointed Australian advisors.

FRETILIN wrote to all Timor Leste’s development partners attending a conference in Dili on April 7-10, including the World Bank and AUSAID, calling on them to “ensure mechanisms are put in place to effectively and transparently manage and oversee the implementation of external assistance.”

The letter, dated April 9, 2009, added FRETILIN’s concerns regarding the hiring “of ‘advisors’ and ‘consultants’ with doubtful, inappropriate, inadequate and even non-existent technical expertise or relevant work experience, simply because of personal or political connections to the de facto government. Such lack of transparency and probity in action weakens all of our efforts to build up good governance and the rule of law in Timor-Leste.”

Bano commented: “We are certain that our concerns registered with the development partners. But we want to make sure that the momentum does not stop there and that all external assistance, aimed, after all, at poverty reduction and building a democratic state under the rule of law, is spent with the utmost transparency and probity.

“So we have written a second letter today to the World Bank and AusAID, asking them for details of positions funded, copies of the contracts and recruitment process documents and the like. This is the same documentation and information we have unsuccessfully sought from Xanana Gusmao’s de facto government.

“We expect the World Bank and AusAID to help ensure transparency and probity in the recruiting of advisors for the Ministry of Finance.”

FRETILIN formally asked Minister Pires and Prime Minister Gusmao for the documents in June 2008, and again during the budget debate in January 2009.

“The sooner parliament has this information, the sooner it can determine what mechanisms if any should be adopted to remedy any deficiencies,” Bano said. “We have great expectations that our development partners will not shirk from their responsibility to assist the people of Timor-Leste to have open and accountable governance”.

Further info: contact José Teixeira +670 728 7080 or Arsenio Bano +670 741 9505