At the end of 1999, the Australian army rightly accepted international applause for a job well done in East Timor.

JOHN HOWARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Congratulations and thank you very much for the fantastic job you've done.

But there were darker corners of that mission that the army apparently would rather not look into.

SOLDIER: Get down on the ground! Get down - on the ground.

At the time of the conflict stories were circulating that Australian soldiers had tortured prisoners. Many dismissed those stories as rumours, but Dateline believes that some accusations were given extra weight when British and New Zealand soldiers reported events they had witnessed. Virtually unknown to the Australian public, the Australian Defence Force, the ADF, conducted an investigation. For 3.5 years little was heard from the ADF, until April last year, when they called a press conference to announce that eighteen undisclosed allegations had been found to be unsubstantiated.
In June, at a Senate Committee hearing, Opposition Defence Spokesman Senator Chris Evans sought further details about the allegations and the processes of the inquiry without much success.
It was clear that not even a Senate hearing would be privy to the details of the allegations. All we know is they involve torture and a possible execution.

SENATOR CHRIS EVANS, OPPOSITION DEFENCE MINISTER: You announce on behalf of ADF that unspecified allegations are found not to be proven and that's it?

AIR VICE MARSHALL CONROY: I'm not going to go into that, Senator. It was of the nature of the allegations...

There's never been a full explanation of how the internal investigation was conducted, what they investigated, how the evidence was judged, who was interviewed and why the claims were dismissed.

SENATOR CHRIS EVANS: So nice to have a little unease about this whole issue.
The culture of the ADF is to not to share information about these matters The culture is to say these are internal matters that have to be kept in house. I don't think that's acceptable. These are the most serious allegations and issuing a press release every now and then when the matter bubbles to public attention, which gives the minimum information possible, is not acceptable. It's just not good enough.

Another press release came in November of last year, when we aired the accounts of three East Timorese militiamen. They were arrested by Australian forces and interrogated together. We interviewed them separately and each had a very similar account of being beaten, terrorised and tortured.

SOLDIER, (Translation): We went in here, one person at a time. They put our heads in the toilet bowl. Into the toilet one at a time, one person at a time, with our mouth down the toilet.

REPORTER, (Translation): Were your faces dipped in the shit?

SOLDIER, (Translation): Yes covered with shit the worst kind. The shit is still there, they made us put our mouths here. If we tried to pull away they pushed our necks down to stop us moving.

These accusations are serious enough in themselves, but each of the witnesses maintain that a fourth man was with them, Yani Ndun, who's never been seen again since being taken into Australian custody. The day after our story, the army announced there would be an inquiry - a proper move if they meant it. But now six months have passed and it appears little, if anything, has been done.
Army Chief Lt-Gen Peter Leahy announced that a trained investigator would be appointed to undertake the investigation, but the army cannot confirm whether this has happened. From our enquiries in East Timor it appears that not a single witness has been approached since our program went to air. Lt-Gen Leahy declined an interview, nor would any other army spokesperson appear in this program. The Defence Minister Robert Hill also declined to be interviewed, as did his Assistant Minister Mal Bruff.
And yet all of them surprisingly implied that the reason the investigation was not advancing was because SBS had not cooperated with the army. This response, six months later, would be a sad joke if it didn't involve the reputation of the Australian army and the possible disappearance of a man who'd been in their custody. We have no extra information to give to the army - we put it all to air.

CAETANO da SILVA, (Translation): My name is Caetano da Silva. I am 38 years old.

We have given the army the full names of the witnesses and the towns where they live - they don't have phone numbers or street addresses. If professional investigators seriously need more information than what we have given, we will happily go with them to find these men.

MAN, (Translation): Yani, the guy who disappeared was a bit crazy, we all knew that at times he’d go mad.

The only extra information we have concerns Yani Ndun. At 4 o'clock this afternoon, the army indicated that he was released on September 26, but he still has not been seen by any of his family or friends. A week ago, his brother contacted us, asking if the Australians had any news about what happened to his brother. He left us a mobile phone number which we'll pass on.

We have had some rather unusual responses from Defence Minister Robert Hill and his Assistant Minister Mal Bruff in recent days, which make us wonder exactly what advice the army has been giving their ministers on this issue. The Assistant Minister's suggestion that the inquiry has not progressed due to our lack of assistance is a surprise to us. We repeat - we have nothing else to give the army that we haven't already broadcast. If they have any questions, they are welcome to call - we're in the book. Mal Bruff also advised us that it's not sufficient to rely on media allegations alone. We agree wholeheartedly - the most relevant inquiry is to directly interview the witnesses.