Xanana Gusmao aboard USNS Mercy. Credit: United States Navy, Chief Mass Communication Specialist Don Bray
By Rich Bowden
East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has angrily denied allegations that he signed a rice deal with a company in which his daughter had an interest.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) alleged in a June report that the prime minister had contracted Prima Food in a $3.5 million deal to import rice at a time when his daughter, Zenilda Gusmao, had held shares.
However after weeks of silence over the allegations, the East Timorese leader insisted his daughter had given up her shares in Prima Food before the signing of the agreement. He recently defended himself against the allegations and criticised Australian media for reporting “rumours not facts.”
The country’s Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres told Radio Australia documents existed to back up the prime minister’s innocence.
“I personally, I was also very much unhappy with allegations from the, some of the journalists in Australia. But I believe that after the clarifications, things will be clearer, clear, all clear, but I can say to you that we follow our rules,” said Guterres.
“I can tell you that we take seriously the question of corruptions allegations and also we are very serious that we pass the law in the Council of Ministers and that the law was approved 90 per cent in the Parliament to create the Anti-Corruption Commission,” he said.
ABC News has released a statement saying it wishes to follow up recent developments and continue its investigation into the incident.
The country’s Opposition party, Fretilin, had called on the prime minister to resign over what it described as nepotism allegations.
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