East Timor PM challenged answer bribe charges in US court
East Timor PM challenged answer bribe charges in US court
Agence France-Presse, Darwin/Australia
A U.S. oil company challenged East Timorese Prime Minister Mari
Alkatiri on Sunday to appear in a U.S. court to respond to
allegations that he accepted a multi-million dollar bribe from a
rival firm.
Denver-based oil company Oceanic Exploration issued the
challenge in a letter handed to Alkatiri as he flew into the
northern Australian city of Darwin to address an oil and gas
conference, a company official told AFP.
The move came after Alkatiri complained on SBS television that
he was unable to defend his reputation in the case because
Oceanic had not named him as a respondent and he had not been
called to court.
The prime minister said "Thank you very much" after being
handed Oceanic's letter by a private detective, and made no
further comment, the official told AFP.
Alkatiri has strenuously denied allegations made by Oceanic
Exploration in March that rival oil giant ConocoPhillips paid him
US$2.5 million to advance its lucrative investment interests in
the Timor Sea.
Oceanic Exploration has also implicated other unidentified
East Timorese politicians and an Australian diplomat in the case.
A lawsuit filed by the company in the U.S. District Court
claimed Australia, Indonesia and ConocoPhillips had conspired to
steal a concession it was granted by former colonizer Portugal,
before Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, to develop resources
in the Timor Sea.
The claim against ConocoPhillips, made under U.S. anti-
racketeering laws, seeks $10.5 billion in compensation, which
could treble if the case is proven and found to be the result of
a criminal conspiracy.
Alkatiri told SBS television that he would have preferred to
have been named as a respondent in the case so that he could
defend himself.
"Unfortunately I was not present as a defendant in court," he
told the program. "I would prefer them to accuse me and put me in
the place of a defendant too, but it was made intentionally and
was based on American laws."
In the letter handed to him on Sunday, lawyer Dale Oliver
quoted the television interview, writing: "We will take you up on
your challenge. We accept your offer to be named as a defendant."
He said to do so East Timor's first prime minister must agree
to submit to the jurisdiction of the Washington court, adding:
"Oceanic does not ask you to admit liability or guilt nor would
it expect you to make such admission."
Oceanic lost an action in a Canberra court last year accusing
the Australian government of breach of contract over its Timor
Sea claim.
The 93-page document outlining its case against ConocoPhillips
covers a sweeping array of charges including racketeering, money-
laundering and embezzlement.
Bribery allegations in the document extend to other
unidentified East Timorese politicians and charge that an
Australian diplomat was involved in the payments.
The document alleges Alkatiri kept two bank accounts in
Australia's northern capital of Darwin to receive payments.
Independent investigations have failed to back these claims,
and Alkatiri told said on the SBS program the accounts in
question were set up to pay bills for his relatives in Darwin and
the amount of money alleged to be in them were "completely
false".
"I had, maximum, in this bank account of a few thousand, very
few thousand," he said.