Lenore Taylor – The inspector general of intelligence and security has issued an unusual public statement to deny that any former spy had raised concerns with her or her predecessor about Australian espionage in Timor.
Vivienne Thom, who oversees Australia's intelligence agencies and investigates complaints, said in a statement that "to the best of my knowledge, no current or former Asis officer has raised concerns with this office about any alleged Australian government activity with respect to East Timor since my appointment in April 2010".
"I have spoken to my predecessor and he has confirmed that, to the best of his recollection, no current or former Asis officer raised concerns with this office about any alleged Australian government activity with respect to East Timor during his term as IGIS and he had no discussion with any former or current Asis officer about any such concerns."
The statement is in response to claims by Timor-Leste's lawyer, Bernard Collaery, that the former spy who is the star witness in the Timor-Leste espionage allegations against Australia received permission from Australia's inspector general of security to take legal advice about his concerns over intelligence gathering during negotiations in 2004 over a lucrative gas treaty.
Collaery said the Australian Security Intelligence Service (Asis) officer – who has had his passport confiscated after raids by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation this week at his Canberra home – received the permission from Ian Carnell, who served as inspector general from 2004 to 2010.
But Thom said: "The practice of this office is to make detailed records of any concerns raised with it, whether the concerns are raised in writing or orally, and regardless of whether the concerns are in jurisdiction or followed up. A search of our records since 2004 has revealed no record of any former or current Asis officer having raised concerns with us about alleged Australian government activity in East Timor."
The attorney general, George Brandis, who approved warrants for searches of the former officer's home and Collaery's office, rejected suggestions he was trying to interfere in international arbitration of the case, in which procedural hearings start on Friday in the Hague.
He told the Senate on Wednesday these were "wild and injudicious claims" and the search warrants had been issued, at the request of Asio, to protect Australia's national security.
He said he had instructed Asio not to share any material gathered in Tuesday's raids with Australia's legal team in the Hague "under any circumstances". The former Asis officer has also retained his own senior counsel, Bernard Grose, QC, who is in the Hague.
Timor-Leste's ambassador to Australia said his country was "deeply disappointed" Australian intelligence agencies had resorted to raids and thought "fair-minded" Australians would reject the "national security" explanation given by Brandis as ridiculous.
Collaery, who is one of a team of lawyers representing Timor-Leste in the international arbitration, has argued the raids were a deliberate effort by the Australian government to disrupt the proceedings, in which Timor-Leste alleges that in 2004 Australia improperly spied on the Timorese during treaty negotiations in order to extract a commercial benefit.
Timor-Leste's prime minister, Xanana Gusmao, issued a statement on Wednesday calling on the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, to explain himself and guarantee the safety of the witness – who was allegedly directly involved in the bugging of the Timorese cabinet office during the sensitive negotiations of the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMAT) treaty.
"The actions taken by the Australian government are counterproductive and uncooperative," Gusmao said. "Raiding the premises of a legal representative of Timor-Leste and taking such aggressive action against a key witness is unconscionable and unacceptable conduct. It is behaviour that is not worthy of a close friend and neighbour or of a great nation like Australia."
Timor-Leste's ambassador to Australia, Abel Guterres, rejected that assertion and said most Australians would also consider it ridiculous.
"Our country, Timor-Leste, which came out of 24 years of struggle and trauma, and the subsequent mayhem in 1999, do you think Timor-Leste could possibly pose a security threat to Australia," he told Guardian Australia.
"Thousands of people in Australia asked the government to help us [during the violence around the autonomy ballot in 1999] and Australia helped us... are we a security threat to Australia, I don't think so, I think any fair-minded Australian would see this as ridiculous."
The negotiation centred on boundaries to determine how the two countries would share oil and gas deposits under the Timor Sea, called the Greater Sunrise fields, worth tens of billions of dollars. Woodside Petroleum, which wanted to exploit the field, was working closely with the Howard government during the talks.
Timor-Leste alleges Australia inserted bugs in the cabinet room to listen to Timorese negotiators during the talks, under the guise of a refurbishment paid for by an Australian aid program.
Timor Leste also hopes that eventually it can secure a bigger share of any revenues from the gas fields, when they are developed.
The inspector general of intelligence and security monitors the intelligence agencies, conducts inquiries and investigates complaints.