“Public Prosecutor Accuses Secretary of State in Fifth Government Francisco Borlaco of Abuse of Power and Tax Fraud”

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Jornal Nacional Diario - Thursday, 14 March 2013

“Public Prosecutor Accuses Secretary of State in Fifth Government Francisco Borlaco of Abuse of Power and Tax Fraud”

The Office of the Public Prosecutor (OPP) has filed formal accusations of suspicion of having committed the crimes of abuse of power and tax fraud, against Francisco da Costa Soares (Borlaco) who is the secretary of State for Institutional Strengthening.

The OPP’s allegations against Francisco Borlaco relate to alleged crimes committed when he was the Director General of the Ministry of Finance during the fourth Constitutional Government, led by Xanana Gusmao.

Francisco Borlaco from the Democratic Party (PD) was appointed by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to the Fifth Constitutional Government as Secretary of State for Institutional Strengthening.

The accusations documents have been lodged in the Dili District Court awaiting the trial process to commence.

This newspaper received information formally from the Dili District Court on Wednesday 13 March 2013 that the OPP’s accusations against Francisco Borlaco were lodged in the Dili District Court since 24 January 2013, file number NUC2488/11PDD.

Other sources inform this newspaper that this accusation is not so serious, but Francisco Borlaco has been notified of other more serious cases of criminal tax fraud which are currently being investigated by the OPP, based on article 314 of the Criminal Code which stipulates that: (1) anyone who does not pay or facilitates the non payment wholly or partially of tax or a fiscal duty to the state, because a) fails to declare it, b) falsely declares, c) impedes in some way in the assessment or to assess or engages in conduct impeding is liable to imprisonment for between 2 to 6 years.(2) When the amount of the unpaid tax is more than US$5,000.00 the agent may be imprisoned for between 2 to 8 years.

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