An Australian man is battling to clear his name after a colleague accused him of threatening to bomb the overseas consulate where they both worked.

Mark Anstee was sacked from his job at the Australian mission in Dubai in March. He was described in an official security report there as a "budding terrorist" who should be registered as a "person of interest" by the Australian Federal Police.

The report was sent to the AFP and the security sections of various government agencies in Canberra.

At the time the AFP officer at the consulate said he would not be looking into the accusation.

Eight months after the accusation was made, an internal investigation by the Immigration Department found there was no basis to calling Mr Anstee a "budding Australian terrorist".

It also found he was sacked from his job as a locally engaged visa officer as a "matter of convenience".

However, the report concluded that Tina Qahwaji, the colleague who made the complaint, was "credible" and that the complaint was not "vexatious".

Mr Anstee and his partner Fiona Sheehan - who was also named in the allegation – have denied discussing or plotting to bomb the building.

"We don't know anything about bombs," Ms Sheehan, the daughter of former Tasmanian senator Brian Harradine, told the ABC.

"I wouldn't know what you make a bomb out of. We can't even do IKEA flat-packed furniture constructions so how could we make a bomb?"

Ms Sheehan still works for the Immigration Department where she has climbed the public service ranks for nearly a decade.

Most of the information about the complaint and the Government's handling of it has been obtained by the couple through multiple Freedom of Information applications.

They believe they are both on Australian, and possibly international, security watch lists, though it seems unlikely they will receive confirmation that is the case.

Mr Anstee has not worked since the incident and both he and Ms Sheehan are being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. They are pursuing legal action to clear their names.

Fears Dubai police would become involved

Mr Anstee, who previously worked for the Immigration Department in Tasmania, had won a job as a locally engaged visa officer in the Dubai consulate.

He had sought work there to be with Ms Sheehan, who was also employed in the post's visa section as a regional biometrics coordinator.

But in early March Mr Anstee was pulled aside by senior managers and told that he had been accused of plotting to bomb the consulate.

"I couldn't believe it. I was just stunned," he said.

"And then he said, 'look, they're going to have to contact the AFP, the security sections of the agencies involved'.

"Basically he said that I would be suspended on full pay pending an investigation. I said OK.

"A few other things were said and then basically I was escorted off the premises of the consulate, had my passes taken from me, and was told that I should write a response, which I went home and did ... a couple of hours later that was sent."

Mr Anstee was given no details about who had made the accusation, nor any details of the complaint.

His greatest fear then was that police in Dubai would become involved.

"If somebody would make that allegation in the consulate about me and they really want to harm me, they could just say that to the police and that would be it," he said.

Brisbane lawyer John Sneddon, who represented businessman Marcus Lee in his fight against fraud charges in Dubai, said he believed Mr Anstee was in a perilous situation.

"A person accused of threatening to blow up an embassy or consulate would find themself arrested and questioned and probably imprisoned while the investigation proceeds," Mr Sneddon said.

"My view is that you should always avoid exposing yourself to the Dubai justice system at all costs."

Sacked via email after fleeing country

Fearing for his life, Mr Anstee fled Dubai to stay with family in Europe, leaving keys to his apartment in an envelope for a friend.

Within days he was sacked via email.

"There was no reason in the letter at all and from that time right up until now, I've never been given a reason why I was dismissed," Mr Anstee said.

Through the FOI documents, he and Ms Sheehan discovered their fears about Dubai police had been realised.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 9 minutes 22 seconds 9 m Man labelled 'budding Australian terrorist' fights bomb plot accusations ( Emma Griffiths )

A report written by the senior manager revealed he had been let inside Mr Anstee's apartment by building security for a "welfare check" in the days after Mr Anstee's departure from Dubai.

The manager found the envelope Mr Anstee had left and wrote in a "note for file" that "the consistency of the contents of the envelope felt like powder and moved around in the envelope".

Building security called local police who then analysed the contents.

A few days later an email written by the manager to Austrade security in Canberra confirmed "the envelope only contained a key".

Mr Anstee said although the envelope was not found to contain anything suspicious, he feared the incident had put him in the sights of the local police.

And for Mr Anstee and Ms Sheehan, the development means they could be on Dubai police - and international - watch lists.

"If it wasn't already bad enough, now apparently Dubai police were involved which was probably like the worst scenario that one could imagine at that time," he said.

They believe they will never be able to travel to the region or work there again.

"We can never go anywhere near the Middle East," Ms Sheehan said.

"What if we're flying sort of near the Middle East and there's a storm and the plane gets diverted?

"Anytime we travel now we're always going to be anxious, we're always going to have this concern."

Inquiry findings paint mixed picture

The couple has written reams of letters and lodged formal complaints, under new whistleblower laws, to the departments of Immigration, Foreign Affairs and Austrade and the federal ombudsman.

The agencies have launched inquiries but Mr Anstee and Ms Sheehan say none of them are properly addressing their claims about the incident.

The most substantial report so far has come from the Immigration Department, which engaged a law firm to investigate.

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ABC News Digital has seen a copy of the department's summary of the report. It has found there are "contradictory accounts" about the bomb plot allegation and "investigators were unable to identify a third-party witness".

However, the investigators did conclude that the person who made the allegation was "credible" because she "genuinely believed the statements were made to her and therefore the allegation was not vexatious".

But in the summary there is no statement about how the investigators regarded Mr Anstee as a witness.

It states that investigators found "no urgency was initially applied to investigating or managing any potential risks to the consulate for a period of roughly two days" after the complaint was made.

It also found the investigation at post was "virtually meaningless".

"The investigators held that on the face of the evidence which the [redacted] had available, he had no basis for concluding that the discloser was a 'budding Australian terrorist' in the security incident report," the summary stated.

The investigators found the termination process was "inextricably linked to the alleged security incident" and that the process "did not follow the usual HR procedures" because of "tension" between security procedures and HR processes.

"The decision to dismiss under contractual arrangements appears to have been done as a matter of convenience," it stated.

Couple continues fight to have name cleared

The Immigration Department said it would issue a letter of "regret" to the couple and would write to the AFP advising it that the incident was not "properly investigated" at post.

It also said a staff member there would face code of conduct procedures for "failure to exercise due diligence in relation to the dismissal action".

Mr Anstee and Ms Sheehan believe the mixed findings of the inquiry have not cleared their names and are pursuing legal action.

"I can't see a time when we can be happy," Ms Sheehan said.

"We were going to get married this year and those plans are on hold indefinitely until we can be in a happy place.

"I don't know how we can reverse this, but we ... the fight goes on for recognition that what happened was wrong and to set the record straight."

The ABC has attempted to contact Tina Qahwaji but has received no reply.

Watch the report by Emma Griffiths on tonight's 7.30 on ABC

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