Child pornography found on the hard drive of an Australian military officer attached to the embassy in Jakarta allegedly included pictures of children he knew, a court has heard.
Australian Federal Police allegedly found the material when they searched the man's home in July 2012.
But whether the man faces trial could depend on Darwin Magistrate Greg Cavengah deciding whether the AFP officers were being economical with the truth, or trying to hoodwink the man's wife.
The man, who cannot be named, has been charged with 11 counts of producing child abuse material and three counts of possession.
A committal hearing in the Darwin Magistrates Court on Tuesday heard the federal officers searched the man's Jakarta home without a search warrant.
The man was in Darwin on business when police went to his home and told his wife that child porn was downloaded to an IP address allocated to the family's Canberra home.
"This is not an investigation about you, or your son, or your husband or your daughter," the woman was allegedly told before she allowed police to search her home.
When questioned by the defendant's lawyer, Jack Pappas, federal police officer Peter Mellor denied police waited for the man to return to Australia before taking action, saying it was harder to obtain a search warrant in Indonesia than in Australia.
His colleague Detective Superintendent Sandra Booth said the offences were committed in Australia and the suspect was in Australia at the time of the search, and Indonesian police had no jurisdiction over the case.
The court heard that while the man's Jakarta home was being searched, officers were waiting outside his Darwin hotel without a warrant, and approached him to talk without cautioning him he was not required to answer questions.
He spoke to the police and allowed them to examine his computer, admitting it contained adult pornography, before Mr Mellor cautioned him.
Mr Pappas accused the AFP of impropriety, asking that several police statements that make up the bulk of the evidence be thrown out.
But Crown Prosecutor Rebecca O'Meagher argued that the probity value of the evidence was greater than any impropriety by police, and there was no evidence the police intended to mislead the man's wife.
"The question is whether they were simply economical with the truth or whether they were there to hoodwink (her)," Mr Cavenagh said.
He will decide whether to commit the case for trial on Wednesday.
