Mari Alkatiri Named Suspect in Haksolok Ship Investigation as Spending and Delivery Remain Unresolved

A suspect statement after years without delivery

Mari Alkatiri, the former president of the Special Administrative Region of Oé-Cusse Ambeno (RAEOA), gave a statement to prosecutors in Dili on October 5, 2026, as a suspect in an investigation involving his administration and the acquisition of the Haksolok ship. The vessel was contracted for €13.7 million in 2014 and launched in Portugal on May 26, 2017, but has still not reached Timor-Leste.

The investigation concerns alleged damaging administration and other possible crimes connected with the purchase and management of the vessel. A source within the Public Prosecutor's Office said 58 people had been designated suspects in the case, which is generally identified as NUC 0017/20.PGGCC. That status does not establish guilt. Prosecutors are continuing to collect evidence, and the presumption of innocence applies until a final court decision.

State spending through RAEOA is reported at between US$24 million and US$28 million. An account of a Court of Accounts audit puts payments during 2014 to 2018 at US$24.5 million, while a parliamentary oversight report describes separate budget allocations totaling nearly US$35 million. These figures measure different things and cannot be treated as interchangeable totals.

The central issue extends beyond the missed delivery: public money has funded a ship, related infrastructure and efforts to resolve the builder's financial problems, yet the intended passenger service has not materialized. The investigation now brings together questions about procurement, payments, management and the attempts to recover a project that has remained in Portugal for more than nine years since its launch.

What happened at the prosecutor's office

Alkatiri attended the prosecutor's office in Colmera with his private lawyer, whose name is given in reports as Soraya Marques or Soraia Marques. He arrived in a private vehicle and was accompanied by personal security. Reports differ on the timing: several place his attendance at about 10:30 a.m., while another says he arrived around 10:00 a.m. and left around 11:00 a.m., after giving a statement for nearly an hour.

Alkatiri, also identified as FRETILIN's secretary general and interim president, declined to discuss the substance of his statement. Speaking to journalists after leaving, he said he intended to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion. His remarks, translated from Tetum, included:

I want to follow this process to the end, I have no obligation to speak with you.

Former Transport and Communications Minister Pedro Lay gave a witness statement earlier that morning, reportedly at 8:00 a.m. Lay held the ministerial position from 2007 to 2012. His appearance as a witness is distinct from Alkatiri's reported designation as a suspect; the accounts do not identify Lay as a suspect.

An investigation described as 80 percent complete

On May 15, 2026, Prosecutor General Nelson de Carvalho said the Haksolok investigation had reached 80 percent completion. He described the case as complex and said a team he had established after taking office was continuing its work.

At that stage, the Public Prosecution Service had designated more than 50 people as suspects. The figure of 58 reported in October is more precise, but the earlier description does not establish exactly how many people were added between May and October. Neither figure means that all those involved have been charged or will face trial.

The reported case references also vary slightly. Most accounts use NUC 0017/20.PGGCC, one adds the suffix MP, and another prints a different office suffix. Without a published case document, those variations should not be taken as evidence of separate Haksolok investigations.

A separate appearance by Alkatiri on May 25 concerned alleged tax fraud under NUC 0036/25.PGGCC. That reference differs from the Haksolok case number. The reports do not establish that the tax allegation and the ship investigation form a single proceeding.

From a 2014 contract to repeated missed dates

The contract with Atlantic Eagle Ship Building was signed on September 22, 2014. The Fifth Constitutional Government selected the builder, and the construction project and budget allocation were subsequently transferred to RAEOA.

The delivery schedule slipped before the vessel was launched. An account of an earlier Court of Accounts audit identifies October 30, 2015, as the initial deadline, followed by January 22, 2016. Neither date produced a delivery. The main reported milestones are:

• September 22, 2014: The government signed the construction contract with Atlantic Eagle Ship Building.
• October 30, 2015, and January 22, 2016: Successive delivery deadlines passed.
• May 26, 2017: Haksolok was launched at Figueira da Foz in Portugal.
• October or November 2017: Reports give different months for its planned arrival in Timor-Leste. Neither arrival occurred.
• 2018: Subcontractors reportedly detained the vessel over unpaid amounts.
• 2021 and 2022: Delivery dates promised by former RAEOA president Arsenio Paixão Bano passed.
• July 25, 2025: Parliament's Commission C visited the Portuguese shipyard and reported irregularities.
• May 15, 2026: The prosecutor general described the investigation as 80 percent complete.
• October 5, 2026: Alkatiri gave a statement as a suspect.

The distinction between launch and delivery matters. Launching puts a vessel into the water; it does not itself establish that construction, testing, acceptance or transfer to its intended operator has been completed.

What the spending figures actually show

The initial contract price of €13.7 million is separate from the reported US$24 million to US$28 million spent through RAEOA. A direct percentage comparison would require an agreed exchange rate and matching definitions of expenditure. The dollar total also appears to include costs beyond the vessel itself.

According to the reported findings of the Court of Accounts audit covering RAEOA in 2016 to 2018, payments connected with Haksolok during 2014 to 2018 exceeded US$24.5 million. Approximately US$21.38 million went to Atlantic Eagle, including US$18.29 million attributed to the ship and US$3.1 million to a pontoon and gangway.

The same audit account lists nearly US$1.1 million paid to ISQ, US$1.44 million to ENVC/EMPORDEF and approximately US$154,000 to Luís Pité, identified as the shipowner's representative. The rounded figures do not provide a complete reconciliation of the stated total, so they should be read as a breakdown of reported payments rather than a full ledger.

The US$21.38 million attributed to Atlantic Eagle represents roughly 87 percent of the US$24.5 million audit total. That comparison shows where most of the recorded money went, but it does not determine whether any individual payment was unlawful.

Budget approvals are not the same as payments

Parliament's Commission C, which handles public finance matters, described approvals of US$17 million, followed by US$14 million and then nearly US$4 million for construction. Added together, these allocations amount to nearly US$35 million.

An allocation authorizes money to be used; an expenditure records money actually paid. The commission's figures therefore cannot simply replace the US$24.5 million audit figure or the broader US$24 million to US$28 million spending estimate. The reports do not establish whether all allocations were disbursed, whether some replaced earlier amounts, or how their scope compares with the audited payments.

Another unresolved issue is documentation. The account of the 2016 to 2018 audit says responsible officials did not submit records for expenditure during 2019 to 2021. That reported gap limits the ability to trace later spending and reconcile the different totals. It does not, by itself, prove that the missing records conceal a crime.

There is also a report that the contract amount had been paid in full in 2017, before construction was finished. Establishing the terms of those payments, the required construction milestones and who authorized them will be necessary to assess responsibility. Full payment and physical completion are separate events.

Direct procurement and the builder's financial collapse

RAEOA selected Atlantic Eagle through direct procurement rather than a competitive tender. One account says Alkatiri and Luís Pité proposed the company and that the selection was presented as urgent.

Direct procurement is not automatically unlawful. It allows an authority to choose a supplier without the usual competition when the applicable rules permit it. The reported challenge in this case is that the ship purchase allegedly did not meet the conditions for urgency or emergency. No final legal determination on that question is described.

Financial disputes later complicated delivery. Subcontractors reportedly held the vessel in 2018 because Atlantic Eagle had not paid them. The builder subsequently became bankrupt, and subcontractors were reported to have sought an additional US$16.9 million to allow the ship to leave.

That US$16.9 million is a reported demand, not an established additional payment by Timor-Leste. It should not be added to public expenditure without evidence that it was paid. The accounts do not set out the current status of those claims or the legal conditions for releasing the vessel.

Port infrastructure in Timor-Leste has also been cited as a reason for delay. A later account says the ports now have suitable conditions, but provides no detailed assessment confirming readiness for Haksolok. The financial dispute and infrastructure issue are separate explanations, and resolving one would not necessarily settle the other.

The attempt to rescue Atlantic Eagle

On September 26, 2022, Alkatiri and then RAEOA president Arsenio Paixão Bano visited Figueira da Foz and met local authorities. Their discussions concerned restarting activity at the insolvent company, linking the effort to obtain the ship with an attempt to revive the builder.

Describing the purpose of that operation at the time, Alkatiri said it was a way to:

transform a misfortune into a blessing.

On October 6, 2022, then Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak said the state had acquired 95 percent of Atlantic Eagle. He said the investment was intended to give the state the ability to require the company to finish Haksolok. The accounts do not provide the acquisition price or explain how it fits into the spending totals.

Ownership of 95 percent of a company does not mean a vessel is 95 percent finished, nor does ownership alone settle subcontractor claims. These are different measures: shares concern control of the business, while construction progress concerns the physical state of the ship.

What remains unresolved about the ship and the case

Haksolok is reported to be 72 metres long and designed to carry 377 passengers. Its intended role was to support maritime connections between Oé-Cusse and the rest of Timor-Leste and supplement the Berlin Nakroma service, according to a statement attributed to then Vice Minister Inácio Moreira in 2017.

Reports disagree on vehicle capacity. One gives space for 23 cars, while another gives 15. Without a confirmed specification, neither number can be presented as settled. Both accounts agree on the passenger capacity.

Construction is reported to be around 80 percent complete. That estimate must not be confused with the prosecutor general's separate statement that the investigation was 80 percent complete in May 2026. Neither percentage establishes a delivery date or a date for a prosecutorial decision.

Commission C's July 25, 2025, shipyard visit added another layer of scrutiny. The commission reported numerous irregularities and called on prosecutors to give the case serious attention. Its observations belong to parliamentary oversight; deciding criminal responsibility remains a separate legal process.

No new delivery deadline, court hearing date, charging decision or scheduled completion of the investigation is identified. The immediate unresolved questions are the final accounting of public expenditure, the status of the subcontractor claims, the work still needed on the ship and whether the evidence supports criminal proceedings against any of the suspects.

Key Points

• Mari Alkatiri gave a statement as a suspect on October 5, 2026, in the RAEOA and Haksolok investigation.
• A prosecution source put the number of suspects at 58. Pedro Lay appeared separately as a witness.
• Haksolok was contracted for €13.7 million in 2014 and launched in Portugal in May 2017, but has not been delivered.
• Reported spending of US$24 million to US$28 million, an audit total of US$24.5 million and budget allocations of nearly US$35 million describe different accounting measures.
• Subcontractor disputes, the builder's bankruptcy and questions about procurement and payment remain central to the case.
• No new delivery or court date is reported. Alkatiri and the other suspects retain the presumption of innocence.