Denpasar – East Timor Attorney General Longuinhos Monteiro denied reports that his government had closed its investigation into the alleged involvement of former Indonesian military chief Wiranto in human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

"We have never closed the investigations into Wiranto's case. What we have done was to put the probe on hold pending a decision of the State Council on whether or not we will continue the investigation," Monteiro said here Monday.

The East Timor government, he said, had sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan regarding the postponement. According to Monteiro, the State Council was expected to announce its decision on the case in August.

Monteiro said his government had never made any statement that it had closed the investigation into human rights abuse cases allegedly involving Wiranto in the former Indonesian province. On Saturday Monteiro and East Timor President Xanana Gusmao held a two-hour meeting in Bali with Wiranto, who is the Golkar Party's presidential candidate.

Wiranto told reporters after the meeting that he and Xanana had not touched on the human rights cases in East Timor. "He [Xanana] has already met and talked with President Megawati, so the issue is a government-to-government issue. Let us just wait for the result," Wiranto said. During their meeting, Wiranto told Xanana that if elected president, he would encourage all efforts to enhance bilateral ties.

The Serious Crimes Unit (SCU), which was established by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), has issued an arrest warrant for Wiranto for his alleged involvement in murder,deportation and torture in East Timor in 1999.

However, the Indonesian government refused to respond to the arrest warrant saying that the SCU lacked any sort of extraterritorial jurisdiction. In addition, it claimed the arrest warrant was invalid as UNTAET was dissolved in East Timor on May 20, 2002.