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Ramos-Horta criticises Aust assassination probe

Posted 6 hours 40 minutes ago Updated 4 hours 0 minutes ago

Dr Ramos-Horta believed no foreign individuals or groups were involved in the attempt on his life. (Reuters: Dadang Tri, file photo)

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has criticised Australia's silence on a bank account held by his slain attacker Alfredo Reinado.

In an interview in Singapore, Dr Ramos-Horta also asked why Australian police failed to question some Timor-born Australians who were in East Timor before an attempt on his life in February and immediately fled to Australia after the shooting.

Dr Ramos-Horta said he was puzzled by the silence of the Australian authorities on the source of the money in the bank account in Darwin held by Reinado with his Timor-born Australian girlfriend, Angelita Pires.

East Timor is understood to be seeking details on the account containing almost $1 million.

"Until now there is dead silence from the Australian Commonwealth Bank, or from the Australian Federal Police, who have not even bothered to brief me what steps they are taking to get the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to release information on the source of the money," Dr Ramos-Horta said.

He said he was also in the dark about numerous phone calls reportedly made to and from Reinado and Australia prior to the attack.

"There were ... East Timorese with Australian citizenship based in Australia who were in Timor prior to the shooting and after that they immediately fled to Australia and yet they have not even been questioned by the Australian police in Australia," Dr Ramos-Horta said.

The 58-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the February 11 attack on his residence led by rebel leader Reinado and required life-saving surgery in Australia.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao was also targeted in the coordinated attacks, but escaped unhurt.

Reinado was killed by Dr Ramos-Horta's security personnel.

Dr Ramos-Horta believed no foreign individuals or groups were involved in the attempt on his life, although East Timorese living in Australia and Indonesia - and who may have gained citizenship - had provided Reinado with some support.

"In terms of the Australian Government, or Australian Anglo-Saxon people or Indonesians themselves (being involved), no," he told reporters.

"The external elements who are involved in supporting Reinado so far as we have been able to ascertain are East Timorese but the support is minor, it's not decisive."

Dr Ramos-Horta however praised Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Indonesian police for their quick action in arresting four Reinado supporters who had fled to the country after the shooting.

- AFP