Apr.26, 2010

Dili, East Timor, 26 April – East Timor’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Zacarias da Costa, said Friday in Dili that agreements were being prepared with Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong to combat money laundering.

Da Costa, who was speaking at the International Conference on Combating Corruption in the East Timor capital, said that agreements were also being prepared with neighbouring countries on mutual legal assistance.

According to da Costa a proposed law on International Legal Cooperation in Criminal Matters is ready to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval.

He said that the proposal had three aims: Allowing East Timor’s criminal court to cooperate with the courts of other countries, promoting cooperating with the International Criminal Court in the Hague and applying the conventions ratified by the members of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), promoting legal cooperation.

The minister noted that the National Parliament had ratified the United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention and that the new Commissioner of the independent Anti-Corruption Commission had been instated.