The Ministry of Finance handed over 50 cars to the National Police of Timor-Leste in order to facilitate better police work on the ground.
The 50 cars were a donation from the United Nations Mission in East Timor to the Timor-Leste government at the end of their mission in 2012.
The cars include 27 land cruisers, six trucks, seven troupers, five land rovers and five unimok cars.
PNTL Logistics Assistant Superintendent Basilio de Jesus said some of the 50 cars were already broken.
“The five land rovers are not working so when they came to the PNTL we couldn’t use them, and apart from this there are 44 cars which do not work very well,” said Superintendent de Jesus in Dili.
Meanwhile he said some of the cars in a good condition had been distributed to the districts.
“Like the land cruiser vehicles we’ve distributed to the districts, including 10 cars for the Special Unit, one to Covalima district, one to Viqueque, one to Baucau, one to Manatuto and one to Same, but some districts did not get them because many of the cars were broken,” said Superintendent de Jesus.
Apart from this he said one land cruiser went to the PNTL Finance Department, one went to the PNTL Information Service, one was given to the Deputy General Commander’s bodyguard and another two cars were given to the General Commander’s bodyguards.
“That’s all the cars, there’s no more,” he said.
Meanwhile Member of Parliament Albina Marcal said the PNTL deserved to get the cars so they could facilitate their work properly.
“When their facilities are complete everything can run well,” said MP Marcal.
In regards to the cars in poor condition, she said it was the government’s responsibility to maintain them.
Meanwhile, TDW tried to confirm the issue with the Director of State Patrimony Antonio Freitas but he said he could not comment.
“I do not know exactly, just ask the Ministry of Finance,” he said.
