SELMA MILOVANOVIC
Th Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
February 1, 2010 
David Wilson … an inquest into his murder in Cambodia is set to resume this year.
EXCLUSIVE
A TOP-SECRET file about the Australian tourist David Wilson, kidnapped and murdered in Cambodia 15 years ago, raises questions about whether the Keating government could have done more to save him.
A marathon inquest into the killing is set to resume this year after the Department of Foreign Affairs finally handed over its file on the case to the Victorian Coroner's Court after a 10-year delay.
The secret DFAT file is believed to contain up to 600 reports and cables - including details of negotiations with kidnappers led by Cambodian officials before Mr Wilson was murdered.
Mr Wilson, 29, along with Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, was kidnapped in July 1994 and murdered by the Khmer Rouge in a remote Cambodian jungle camp in September that year.
The Wilson family believes the cables - if revealed to the coroner in full - will show the Keating government knew the Cambodians would bombard the mountain where the hostages were being held and did nothing to persuade them to delay the attack until negotiations for the handover of hostages were completed.
Questions are also being raised about why an audacious plan by the prominent businessman and Liberal Party figure Ron Walker to deliver a $50,000 ransom in gold to Cambodia in a private jet with the help of former SAS troopers was never revealed to the family in full or made part of the inquest.
The government had refused to pay the ransom, in line with its policy that such an action would expose other Australians abroad to kidnapping. It also refused to help Peter Wilson take money to Cambodia to rescue his son on the same grounds but effectively turned a blind eye to the Cambodian government's attempts to arrange a ransom payment.
Mr Walker said he had secured the ransom amount in gold ingots and arranged for a corporate jet to deliver it if necessary.
''Even though Andrew Peacock [the then shadow foreign affairs minister] had offered ex-SAS people to help in Cambodia, there was no guarantee of safety for the people carrying the gold,'' Mr Walker said. ''The people wanting the gold could not guarantee the safe passage of messengers bringing it and the plan was never carried out.''
Mr Walker said Mr Wilson later rang him to thank him for his offer.
Mr Wilson said he had never spoken to Mr Walker - only Mr Peacock, who rang him about 10 days after his son was taken hostage and told him that ''someone has offered to help financially''. Mr Wilson said he declined Mr Peacock's offer as, at the time, he was preparing to fly to Cambodia himself with cash to secure his son's release. But when he approached DFAT for help, horrified officials told him that ''we could not be seen to be helping in the tiniest part''.
He says he never knew gold or Mr Walker were involved until after his son's death, when he heard some information about Mr Walker and ''put two and two together''.
''Even if I am wrong about whom I spoke to when, this should all be before the coroner,'' Mr Wilson said. ''The question is, what else may have been left out of the inquest?''
A lawyer for DFAT told the Coroner's Court in 2000 that the department file which has stalled the inquest was classified on the grounds of national security.
The former Victorian State Coroner Graeme Johnstone - who retired in 2007 - had ordered the department to reveal all to the Wilson family and said that any classified material could be discussed in a closed court.
Peter Wilson, who no longer has a lawyer, said he had not heard anything from the court since 2007 when he last met with DFAT lawyers and Mr Johnstone.
''I want the inquest to continue,'' Mr Wilson said. ''There is not a day that goes by that I have not reviewed the situation before I go to sleep at night. We've been kept in the dark for far too long.''
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Note: Cambodian opposition leader, Mr. Sam Rainsy, who was Cambodia's Finance Minister at the time, said that he was ordered to authorise to pay a $150,00 ransom to the kidnappers. The $150,000 went missing when the money was passed from one intermediary to the next and did not reach the kidnappers.
A marathon inquest into the killing is set to resume this year after the Department of Foreign Affairs finally handed over its file on the case to the Victorian Coroner's Court after a 10-year delay.
The secret DFAT file is believed to contain up to 600 reports and cables - including details of negotiations with kidnappers led by Cambodian officials before Mr Wilson was murdered.
Mr Wilson, 29, along with Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, was kidnapped in July 1994 and murdered by the Khmer Rouge in a remote Cambodian jungle camp in September that year.
The Wilson family believes the cables - if revealed to the coroner in full - will show the Keating government knew the Cambodians would bombard the mountain where the hostages were being held and did nothing to persuade them to delay the attack until negotiations for the handover of hostages were completed.
Questions are also being raised about why an audacious plan by the prominent businessman and Liberal Party figure Ron Walker to deliver a $50,000 ransom in gold to Cambodia in a private jet with the help of former SAS troopers was never revealed to the family in full or made part of the inquest.
The government had refused to pay the ransom, in line with its policy that such an action would expose other Australians abroad to kidnapping. It also refused to help Peter Wilson take money to Cambodia to rescue his son on the same grounds but effectively turned a blind eye to the Cambodian government's attempts to arrange a ransom payment.
Mr Walker said he had secured the ransom amount in gold ingots and arranged for a corporate jet to deliver it if necessary.
''Even though Andrew Peacock [the then shadow foreign affairs minister] had offered ex-SAS people to help in Cambodia, there was no guarantee of safety for the people carrying the gold,'' Mr Walker said. ''The people wanting the gold could not guarantee the safe passage of messengers bringing it and the plan was never carried out.''
Mr Walker said Mr Wilson later rang him to thank him for his offer.
Mr Wilson said he had never spoken to Mr Walker - only Mr Peacock, who rang him about 10 days after his son was taken hostage and told him that ''someone has offered to help financially''. Mr Wilson said he declined Mr Peacock's offer as, at the time, he was preparing to fly to Cambodia himself with cash to secure his son's release. But when he approached DFAT for help, horrified officials told him that ''we could not be seen to be helping in the tiniest part''.
He says he never knew gold or Mr Walker were involved until after his son's death, when he heard some information about Mr Walker and ''put two and two together''.
''Even if I am wrong about whom I spoke to when, this should all be before the coroner,'' Mr Wilson said. ''The question is, what else may have been left out of the inquest?''
A lawyer for DFAT told the Coroner's Court in 2000 that the department file which has stalled the inquest was classified on the grounds of national security.
The former Victorian State Coroner Graeme Johnstone - who retired in 2007 - had ordered the department to reveal all to the Wilson family and said that any classified material could be discussed in a closed court.
Peter Wilson, who no longer has a lawyer, said he had not heard anything from the court since 2007 when he last met with DFAT lawyers and Mr Johnstone.
''I want the inquest to continue,'' Mr Wilson said. ''There is not a day that goes by that I have not reviewed the situation before I go to sleep at night. We've been kept in the dark for far too long.''
--------------------------------------
Note: Cambodian opposition leader, Mr. Sam Rainsy, who was Cambodia's Finance Minister at the time, said that he was ordered to authorise to pay a $150,00 ransom to the kidnappers. The $150,000 went missing when the money was passed from one intermediary to the next and did not reach the kidnappers.
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