The resolution, presented by the minister for cabinet affairs, Agio Pereira, also determines the “cancellation of the ongoing procedures for granting new licences and the prohibition of granting new licences” for this type of activity, reads the cabinet statement.
The resolution was approved following “identified risks to the country’s security, social stability, economic integrity and international reputation”, the statement said. The resolution also states that the minister in charge, together with the security forces, will supervise the implementation of the measures approved by the government resolution.
On 11 September, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned of the proliferation of criminal networks in Oecussi, the Timorese enclave on the Indonesian side of the island of Timor, pointing out that recent investigations show that the region is being contaminated.
‘The special administrative region of Oecussi appears to have been targeted by criminal networks,’ reads a report on East Timor, which states that there is every indication of digital criminal activity in the area, including the actions of people who have already been convicted of similar offences in other Asian countries.
The UNODC document was released following an investigation by the Timorese authorities, which resulted in the arrest of 10 people on suspicion of involvement in illegal gambling and computer fraud in Oecussi.
“The expansion of the fraud centre industry from Southeast Asia to East Timor is a sign of its general growth,” say the experts, pointing out that the case of East Timor has “striking similarities” with other problematic centres of illegal digital gambling such as Macau, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, or Malaysia.
The problem, they warn, could worsen with East Timor’s accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October. In the same report, the UNODC stated that a person “who holds a position in the government of East Timor” is one of the owners of a hotel that “appears to harbour companies” with criminal activity.
“Hotel A is managed by several people, including one who holds a position in the Government of East Timor; [the hotel] appears to host companies operating from its premises and has been associated, through common business interests, with another hotel establishment in Dili linked to the recently ousted leadership of RAEOA [Special Administrative Region of Oecussi],” reads a report on the new criminal networks operating in the Timorese enclave.
Platform with Lusa
