| Official says APETIL not legally registered, can't run bank |
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| Written by Webmaster | |
| Thursday, 12 June 2008 | |
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By Orlando and Pelagio CJITL reporters A personal debt owed by the president of the Popular Association of Business in Timor-Leste (APETIL) has apparently been paid using APETIL funds, raising questions about the legality of the repayment and of the association itself. CJITL reporters investigating the loan have discovered that APETIL, which was established in 2000, is not legally registered as a business association. Henrique de Oliveira Ximenes, director of registration for the Ministry of Justice, said all business associations must be registered with the ministry. He said that APETIL has not registered. Antonio da Silva Sarmento, APETIL’s lawyer, said he has just begun representing the organization and does not know the exact reason why APETIL has not registered with the ministry. He said APETIL does not intend to violate any laws and will complete its registration as soon as possible. CJITL reporters uncovered the violation while investigating allegations by high school teacher Calistro Doutel Sarmento, who said in January that APETIL President Armando Ximenes had cheated him by failing to repay a personal loan. That personal debt has since been repaid by APETIL officials, who say they repaid the loan to clear up all pending business matters and obligations. APETIL organizes business activities for its 35,000 members. Last December, APETIL President Ximenes announced the association would establish a lending arm, the Cooperativa Tane Timor, to make business loans to its members. That news prompted Calistro Sarmento to contact CJITL reporters in January. He complained that Armando Ximenes should not be going into the loan business because he has failed to pay back his personal debt. Calistro Sarmento and Armando Ximenes agree that in 2002, Armando Ximenes borrowed $2400 from Calistro Sarmento, promising to repay the loan in one month, plus 15 percent interest, for a total of $2760. They also agree that between 2002 and January of 2008, he paid back only $900. At 15 percent annual interest over five years, the debt has grown to more than $4,000. Calistro Sarmento showed the CJITL reporters the original loan document, which was hand-written on a sheet of APETIL stationery, signed by both parties and stamped with the organization’s official stamp. After repeated efforts, CJITL reporters interviewed Armando Ximenes on Jan. 19. He confirmed the loan agreement and said he fully intended to repay the debt. By Feb. 25, when a story about the situation appeared in the Timor Post, he had paid back an additional $100 for a total of $1000. On Feb. 26, the day after the Timor Post story, Calistro Sarmento met with CJITL reporters to say the situation had been resolved to his satisfaction. He later produced a receipt, dated Feb. 26 with the official APETIL stamp showing $,1000 has been paid and promising to pay an addition $1400 in two payments of $700 each in March and April. He was accompanied by Manuel Ximenes, APETIL’s chief of administration and finance, who said APETIL would pay the debt from association funds because the contract was written on APETIL stationery and stamped with the APETIL stamp. CJITL reporters continued to try to interview Armando Ximenes to ask if he thought it was appropriate to use APETIL funds to pay his personal debt. When they finally reached him on March 10, he disputed what Calistro Sarmento and Manuel Ximenes had said. “It is not APETIL’s money, it is my own money, and it’s taken out from my private company in Matadouro,” he said. “When I read the (report in the Timor Post), I was very sad. You published the news without professionalism, because you didn’t make the final confirmation.” Armando Ximenes referred further questions to his lawyer, Antonio da Silva Sarmento, who said the personal debt had in fact been repaid by APETIL funds, and not from the Matadouro company. “You have to trust me, not Armando,” said Antonio Sarmento. “I’m the one who knows about the law, and not him.” The questions about the legality of APETIL’s practices are serious, according to Ussulau de Jesus Cepeda, the chief of section for Collective Social Registration in the Ministry of Justice. Based on the law, APETIL is not a legal organization because it is not registered, he said. And since it is not a legal organization, it has no standing to open a cooperative bank, he said. Antonio Sarmento said APETIL intends to register as required and until that time is operating “under its internal regulations.” |
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