Last Friday, March 18, the Timorese political and juridical community participated in a conference about “The Purpose of the Public Audit External Control and the Models of the Superior Control Institutions”, in the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s Conference Room in Dili.

Organized by the Ministry of Justice, the referred conference’s main objective was to promote the debate about the possible institutional models to promote the surveillance of the State Accounts, according to the demand included in the RDTL Constitution.

Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins, President of the Portuguese Audit Court, was the event’s main guest, which counted also with presentations from Eric Muir, Audit Consultant from the Queensland health services, Australia and from José Tavares, Portugal Audit Court counsellor, within the scope of the legal regimes followed by common and civil law countries.

In her opening remarks, the Minister of Justice, Lúcia Lobato thanked “the availability and cooperation” from Portugal, strategic partner in the installation of the future Timor-Leste Audit Chamber. Likewise she presented the twenty young auditors, already recruited from more than two hundred candidates, who will begin the respective training programme soon, before starting the career.

The conference also counted with the presence of the Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, who highlighted that “public resources management is not only necessary but obligatory while a form of protection against the diverse forms of fraud and corruption”.

Also present at this event were the President of the National Parliament, Fernando Lasama de Araújo, the President of the Court of Appeal, Cláudio Ximenes, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Timor-Leste, Ammerah Haq and the Republic General Prosecutor, Ana Pessoa.

To read the Prime Minister’s speech in this conference, click here.