ASIO Raids Home and Office of Lawyer in East Timor Case
Thursday 5 December 2013 @ 10.39 a.m. | Crime | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure
A lawyer representing East Timor in the upcoming spying case against Australia has accused ASIO of raiding his home and office days before the case is due to begin in the Hague. The lawyer, Bernard Collaery, claimed that ASIO had seized documents relating to the case and had ‘muzzled’ a key whistleblower for the case.
Attorney-General George Brandis confirms that he had authorised the spy agency to conduct raids in Canberra and that agents had taken documents and electronic media. However, the Attorney-General denied that the raids were authorised in order to impede the East Timor case. Senator Brandis explained that the raids were authorised with the belief that the documents seized contained intelligence relating to security matters. He further said:
"I have seen reports this evening containing allegations that the warrants were issued in order to affect or impede the current arbitration between Australia and Timor-Leste at The Hague. Those allegations are wrong…I have instructed ASIO that the material taken into possession is not under any circumstances to be communicated to those conducting those proceedings on behalf of Australia."
Mr Collaery who is working for East Timor which accuses the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) of secretly recording East Timorese ministers and officials during delicate oil-and-gas negotiations in Dili in 2004 for the Timor Sea Resources Treaty.
Consequently, East Timor is pursuing international arbitration to have the treaty overturned. Mr Collaery has called for a full inquiry and for the conduct of David Irvine - the current ASIO director-general, who was head of ASIS in 2004 - to be closely scrutinised.
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