Addressing parliament on Tuesday, the Fretilin member of parliament said the letter calling for the revocation of Lay’s political immunity had sat with Commission A for over a month without action.

Lay, the Secretary General for the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party,  is under investigation for alleged corruption when he was Minister for Commerce, Tourism and Sports in the former government. He was recently sworn in as a member of parliament.

"I heard and saw for myself the court had sent a notification letter on March 18 and was signed by the chairman of Commission A Carmelita Monis on the 22nd but until now it had not been discussed in a plenary and my question is why?”

Bianco said he had seen a receipt proving the letter had been received by Commission A and demanded that a follow-up take place.

Responding to the notification letter, the Deputy Chairman of Commission A Francisco Vasconcelos confirmed the letter had been received and passed to Arao Noe, the President of National Parliament.

The legality of the letter had been questioned, Vasconcelos said.

Noe said he had sent a response to the Public Prosecutor regarding the letter but had not received a reply.