also: The Age: Timor rebel leader has fortune in NT

Arrested East Timor soldiers to be returned to Dili

By Stephanie March

DILI, April 19 AAP - Three former East Timorese soldiers suspected of being involved in attacks on the country's leaders will be brought back to Dili from Indonesia by the end of next week, Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa said.

Da Costa said they were waiting to receive formal notification of the arrests from East Timor's embassy in Jakarta, but Indonesian police confirmed the three suspects had been captured.

"Since there is no extradition treaty between the two countries there has been close discussion with our prosecutor-general," da Costa said.

"We expect the prosecutor-general will fly to Jakarta by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest and bring them back.

As soon as authorities discovered the three men had crossed the border, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a special delegation to East Timor to cooperate with authorities to bring them back, da Costa said.

"The way [Indonesian authorities] have responded shows their willingness to cooperate with Timor-Leste authorities. We think maybe one, two, three days after the prosecutor-general flies to Jakarta, this issue will be resolved," he said.

East Timor's prosecutor-general said he expected Polri would help escort the three suspects back to Dili and "officially deliver" them to authorities.

"We have confirmation that at least two of the men were at the president's residence on February 11," Longuinhos Monteiro said.

East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao were attacked by rebels in Dili in separate incidents on February 11.

Ramos-Horta was critically wounded, while Gusmao escaped unharmed.

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The Age (Melbourne, Australia) April 19, 2008

Timor rebel leader has fortune in NT

Lindsay Murdoch, Age Correspondent, Dili

$800,000 Darwin bank account prompts inquiry

INVESTIGATORS have found that Alfredo Reinado, the rebel leader who led the attacks on East Timor's top two political leaders, has an account at the Commonwealth Bank in Darwin worth more than $800,000.

The account is also in the name of Timorese-born Australian woman Angelita Pires, East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta revealed last night.

About $200,000 had been withdrawn from the account, Mr Ramos Horta said in Dili.

"Who gave the money? We will find out who gave the money," he said.

Reinado was found to have $US30,000 ($A32,000) in new notes in his pockets when he was shot dead at Mr Ramos Horta's house after he had led rebels there shortly after dawn on February 11.

Ms Pires, who grew up in Darwin and is unemployed, became Reinado's lover while he was being hunted in East Timor's mountains to face charges of multiple murder and rebellion.

She has admitted giving Reinado a mobile phone when she was with him only hours before the attacks, but denied having any prior knowledge of the raids.

Since returning to Dili from Australia on Thursday, where he had spent nine weeks recovering from gunshot wounds, Mr Ramos Horta has made it clear that he wants the people who supported Reinado punished.

"I will not rest until the truth is totally uncovered," he said. "If necessary, I will take this matter to the United Nations Security Council."

Investigators in Dili have asked the Rudd Government to provide the details of 47 telephone calls Reinado either made to or received from Australia in the hours before the attacks.

They have also asked for details of Reinado's telephone conversations recorded by Australian intelligence agencies.

Mr Ramos Horta also last night stepped up pressure on Indonesian authorities to investigate Reinado's links to people in Indonesia after the investigation into the attacks found the rebel had frequent telephone contact with people in Indonesia.

He said he will, if necessary, complain to international journalism organisations about how Indonesia's Metro television came to interview Reinado in their Jakarta studio in May last year when Australian troops were hunting him in East Timor's mountains. Mr Ramos Horta named the Metro employee who he said helped arrange the interview.

Earlier, Mr Ramos Horta said Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had assured him Indonesian authorities wound investigate how Reinado was able to travel to Jakarta at a time he was East Timor's most wanted man.

Meanwhile, three of the rebels involved in the attacks have fled across the border to Indonesian West Timor, sources close to the investigation have told The Age.

But Reinado's deputy, Gastao Salsinha, had not crossed the border as hundreds of Timorese security forces, backed by Australian and New Zealand troops, continued to hunt him in the country's western mountains, sources said.