COURT DECISION AGAINST PETROTIMOR VINDICATES TRUTH: ALKATIRI TO PURSUE

The President of FRETILIN, Timor-Leste's electorally most popular
party, Francisco Guterres "Lú-Olo" today welcomed the decision of the
United States Federal Court sitting in Texas to dismiss the claims by
Oceanic Exploration and its Portuguese subsidiaries (better known
collectively as "Petrotimor") for compensation against US company
Conoco Phillips who commercially operates the largest gas and liquids
field in the Timor Sea, claiming amongst other remedies compensation
for loss of opportunity and alleging corrupt conduct by Phillips
Petroleum (the forerunner to Conoco Phillips) in paying bribes to
Timor-Leste officials and politicians. The claims included an
unfounded allegation that former Timor-Leste Prime Minister and
FRETILIN Secretary General, Dr. Mari Alkatiri was paid a bribe of US$2
million to sign and push through the Timor Sea Treaty. Dr. Alkatiri
has strenuously denied the allegations from the outset and commenced
legal action at the time in Dili for defamation against Timor-Leste
political figures who repeated the allegation publicly.

On 16 April 2008, Judge Lynn N. Hughes of the U.S. District Court in
Houston, Texas dismissed the 30-billion-dollar lawsuit brought by
Petrotimor and its parent company Oceanic Exploration against
ConocoPhillips, the Timor Sea Designated Authority (TSDA) and others
in March 2004. Although the Timorese and international media
repeatedly reported on Petrotimor's sensational charges (including
alleged ConocoPhillips bribing of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri) over
the last four years, the final judgment rejecting the lawsuit has not
been reported anywhere in the six weeks since it occurred.

Speaking in Dili today upon hearing the news, Lú-Olo said that he
always believed that the court decision would vindicate Dr. Alaktiri's
denials and that the allegations were always politically motivated.
"I and many, many, others know my colleague Dr. Alkatiri. He is a
person of integrity and is selfless. I never had any doubts that the
court would throw the case out. In doing so the court has also called
to account those politicians like the current President of the
Parliament, Mr. Fernando Araujo, who defamed Dr. Alkatiri at the time
by demanding his resignation because of the airing of these baseless
allegations of bribery. There were others. They know who they are
and they should all now apologize to Dr. Alkatiri, and his family,
especially his wife, daughter and sons, without delay," said Lú-Olo.

"These allegations were the beginning of a political witch-hunt
against Dr. Alkatiri and his family. It smeared his whole family in
the eyes of some who believed the allegations because they were being
repeated privately and publicly as a reason for my father to resign.
He vehemently denied the allegations. But it did not stop the
witch-hunt and even foreign ambassadors repeated the allegations in an
attempt to malign the man's good name and reputation. I want to see
him get justice for the malicious campaign undertaken against him in
this regard. But it will be difficult to imagine how justice will be
delivered to him, even if his claims go to court," added.

At the time Dr. Alkatiri lodged a complaint in Dili with the
Prosecutor General for action against Mr. Fernando Araujo Lasama who
was President of the Democratic Party, and opposition to the then
FRETILIN Government headed by Alkatiri. Mr. Lasama is today the
President of the Timor-Leste National Parliament. Despite repeated
requests the Prosecutor General has failed, neglected or refused and
continues to fail, neglect or refuse to prosecute Dr. Alkatiri's
defamation compliant, which under The Timor-Leste Criminal Code is a
criminal offence.

"This failure, neglect or refusal to act by the Prosecutor General is
also politically motivated. He had no qualms in initiating an
investigation against Dr. Alkatiri for alleged involvement in the
arming of civilians in 2006, but has not taken one step with regard to
Dr. Alkatiri's good name and reputation being tarnished by these false
and baseless allegations. What is going to happen now that it is
beyond doubt that the allegations are baseless? The judge made it
clear in the decision when he referred to the allegations in very
forceful and colorful language like 'over 50 pages of trivia', 'a list
of gossip and debris', 'not cogent', and that 'It has
assumptions-nothing more' amongst other statements diminishing the
factual value of the claim," asked Lú-Olo.

In the decision the Judge said about the bribery allegations:

"Oceanic's asserts abstract operative facts – bribery, hostility,
causation, and damage. It supports the abstractions with over 50 pages
of trivia. The details are not cogent; we are left with a metaphysical
leap from this list of gossip and debris of Conoco Phillips' working
in the region to Oceanic's particular interpretation of why it lost in
Timor. For instance, Oceanic pleads that the president of Conoco
Phillips flew to East Timor to hand an official a suitcase of cash.
Implausibility aside, Oceanic simply can not link this fact with its
injury. That is, it can not possibly have an idea why the president of
an international corporation would personally deliver cash in a
briefcase to an official of East Timor. It has assumptions – nothing
more."

"In Oceanic's long complaint – twice amended, not counting its
practice run in the Australian courts – it has not pleaded facts that,
if true, show its injury is connected to the acts it describes. If
ConocoPhillips acted corruptly in East Timor, Oceanic was injured in
common with oil companies, consumers, and the rule of law everywhere."

Mari Alkatiri will now pursue all legal remedies for the extensive
defamation against him over a period of three years by Timor-Leste
politicians and media.