Bernard Collaery's office
Sara Everingham –
ABC News
Australia
has agreed to return documents seized during an Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) raid on the office of a lawyer representing
East Timor's government in a spying case.
Since
the ASIO raids on East Timor's lawyer Bernard Collaery and a former senior
Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) officer in December 2013, East
Timor has been seeking to have the material returned and took its case to the
International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In
a statement released early on Monday morning, East Timor's minister of state,
Agio Pereira, said: "After 16 months of vigorously defending its right to
take and keep the documents, the Australian Government has now written to the
ICJ, stating that it wishes to return them."
Mr
Collaery confirmed he expected the material to be handed back.
"There's
been a formal consent order made and that was in The Hague [ICJ] last
week," he said.
Former
ASIS officer's passport issue 'still to be resolved'
At
the time of the ASIO raids, East Timor and Australia had just begun arbitration
over allegations of spying and the validity of a multi-billion dollar oil and
gas treaty.
East
Timor wanted the treaty governing the revenue split over the Greater Sunrise
oil and gas field torn up, because it said Australia had spied on it in 2004
while the treaty was being negotiated.
East
Timor's key witness in the arbitration with Australia was a former officer in
ASIS.
The
agent, known as Witness K, was also a target of the ASIO raids.
Mr
Collaery said he welcomed the return of the seized material, but added there
were still other significant matters to resolve, particularly for Witness K,
whose passport was cancelled.
He
said he expected Witness K would be allowed to reapply for a passport and would
"be reissued a passport as soon as possible".
Decision
consistent with 'friendly, bilateral relationship'
Mr
Pereira said the return of the documents was in keeping with the
"friendly, bilateral relationship" East Timor was seeking to build
with Australia.
He
suggested the two countries were not close to reaching an agreement on the
underlying dispute over oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
He
indicated East Timor's bid to have the treaty governing the lucrative Greater
Sunrise field declared invalid may not be over, saying East Timor was
"reserving its rights" and taking legal advice.
Last
September East Timor agreed to a request from Australia to suspend all legal
proceedings for six months to seek an "amicable agreement", but Mr
Pereira said the break had not produced a schedule for talks on a permanent
maritime boundary.
"Timor-Leste
agreed to Australia's request with the proviso that bilateral discussions
during the adjournment period should produce a roadmap for structured talks on
the delimitation of permanent maritime boundaries," he said.
The
deadline passed in March this year, but Mr Pereira said there had been little
progress on a schedule for negotiations.
Settling
case 'amicably' in ICJ
East
Timor has called for a permanent median-line boundary to deliver what it says
is its fair share of revenue from the Greater Sunrise field, estimated to be
worth tens of billions of dollars.
East
Timor and Australia don't have a maritime boundary but under current treaties
the Greater Sunrise revenue is to be split 50-50 between the two countries even
though the field lies closer to East Timor's coast.
Mr
Pereira suggested East Timor's new prime minister Rui Araujo would continue to
push the country's case.
Australia's
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said after six months of talks, Australia had
offered to return the seized documents in order to settle the case in the ICJ
amicably.
Ms
Bishop said a deal to produce a structured plan for bilateral talks on a
maritime boundary was never part of the agreement to suspend the legal
proceedings.
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