Mark Dodd – An Australian businessman has been hounded out of East Timor by anti-Australian sentiment whipped up by claims that Canberra is ripping a $1 billion oil and gas bonanza off the region's poorest country.

Earlier this month an East Timorese mob shouting anti-Australian abuse chased a Darwin businessman through Dili airport, delaying the departure of a scheduled international flight.

Jim Hendrie, managing director of the Darwin-based civil engineering firm Seanap, said East Timor police failed to stop hooligans from chasing him into the airport's departure lounge over a disputed scrapmetal contract.

Mr Hendrie said the cause of his troubles was a commercial dispute with East Timorese partners, but tensions had worsened because of negative views of Australians over stalled Timor Sea resource negotiations. He warned that the absence of a foreign investment code or a commercial court in East Timor had allowed corruption and standover tactics to flourish.

The departure of a scheduled Air North flight to Darwin was delayed until Mr Hendrie disembarked, despite being told to stay on the plane by a UN adviser. He said protesters gained unauthorised access to the runway.

"They were shouting 'all Australians should be locked up until they stop stealing our oil'," Mr Hendrie told The Sunday Times. "We [businessmen] don't feel safe there any more. There is an anti-Australian sentiment running here, we're not popular at all."

"The ability of a group of East Timorese thugs to be able to order an international flight to be delayed should be of grave concern to any visitors. These Timorese were able to order the police to stop that flight. They had the power to stop that flight. And during the whole time we were meeting with the police prosecutor they were telling him what to do."

Anti-Australian sentiment is running strong after President Xanana Gusmao accused Australia of robbing billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue from South-East Asia's poorest country.

"The maritime boundary negotiations for the Timor Gap have not helped Australians doing business in East Timor," Mr Hendrie said. "For five years we have had no problems. It's been a dream run. Now we don't feel safe."

Seanap has been involved in East Timor since the devastation wrought by Indonesian army-backed militias during the bloody 1999 independence vote. The company specialises in supplying civil and electrical engineering skills that are needed in East Timor.