The Executive Director of Mahein Foundation (FM), Nelson Belo, said the Ministry of Justice (MJ) did not need to set up a new Scientific Police Criminal Investigation (SPCRI) Unit because the National Police PNTL already includes a Criminal Investigation Services (CIS) Unit.
Director Belo added that the SPCRI and CIS units have similar duties including investigating criminal cases.
“It was not needed and I am disappointed that now we have two units with similar duties,” said Director Belo in Dili.
He added what was needed was more adequate training for the CIS unit to perform its duties more efficiently rather than setting up a new unit to duplicate duties.
In response to the issue, the Minister of Justice Ivo Valente said SPCRI has been established recently in 2015 but that its duties are very different to those of the CSI unit.
Minister Valented added that the SPCRI unit will investigate drug cases, capital money laundering cases, corruption cases and transnational crimes.
“The unit was set up this year to investigate more complex cases and to use intelligence to find the truth,” added Minister Valente.
In the meantime, CIS Commander Superintendent Ludgerio Lay said the CIS unit investigates cases that it hands over to the Public Ministry for prosecution.
“We work together and have the same objective and that to capture criminals and to ensure peace prevails in our country. These are the core principles we work with to develop PNTL,” said Commander Lay.
