Banco Nacional Ultramarino Baucau Missing Money Case: Three Priests Amongst Accused

ETLJB 12 April 2013 - Nine persons, amongst them three priests, appeared at the Baucau District Court today as accused in the trail of the case of the BNU missing money.

Although the principal accused of the eleven persons charged of the crime of the missing US$267,500.00 from the Baucau BNU did not appear, the three priests were amongst the group that did appear.

The Office of the Public Prosecutor has accused two former BNU Baucau branch managers, Agostinho Gusmao and Joao da Costa Ximenes Goncalves as the principal actors in the crime of larceny under article 251 of the Criminal Code.

In the meantime, the 12 other accused are charged by the Office of the Public Prosecutor under article 272 of the Criminal Code of aggravated reception of stolen goods.

This first hearing was presided by a panel of judges led by Jose Goncalves, with the Office of the Public Prosecutor represented by Dr. Baltazar Ramos, with the 11 accused who appeared represented by the Public Defendor and private lawyers, including lawyers form the Justice and Peace Commission.

However, the first hearing could not proceed because the two principal accused Agostinho Antonio Gusmao and Joao da Costa Ximenes Goncalves and another accused Selite Maria Ximenes were not present because they were not notified by the court of the hearing.

The accused Joao da Costa Ximenes Goncalves who is currently being held in custody in Becora Jail in Dili could not appear in Court because there was no transport available to enable him to appear at the trial in Baucau.

The public defender and private lawyers expressed their dissatisfaction with the outcome because it was a waste of their time. Source: TVTL News Friday, 5 April 2013 Edited by Warren L. Wright