Posted on 06/24/2005 9:11:04 PM PDT by wagglebee
Schapelle Corby's lawyers tried to get the Australian Government to give them $500,000 to bribe the Indonesian judges overseeing her appeal, two Perth lawyers claimed yesterday.
Mark Trowell, one of two QCs asked by the Government to help her case, said the request was made earlier this month at a meeting he attended in Bali.
Corby's Indonesian lawyers also requested in a written document that $500,000 be forwarded to them from the Australian Government for "lobbying".
Mr Trowell said Corby was unaware of the request, which was rejected immediately.
Mr Trowell and fellow Perth lawyer Phillip Laskaris were initially sounded out about a bribe over dinner in Bali three weeks ago with the head of Corby's defence team, Vasu Rasiah, and her lawyer, Lily Lubis.
Mr Trowell confirmed yesterday that an approach had been made, saying that at first he thought it was a joke. "I kept pushing, pushing them to tell me what they saw as the best grounds of appeal," he said.
"Vasu said: 'Forget the merits of the appeal, all you have to do is put in the appeal and if you have got money to bribe the judges, you win the appeal.'
"I told him the Australian Government would never provide money to bribe judges.
"He said: 'There are no lawyers in Indonesia, only negotiators'."
Mr Laskaris backed up Mr Trowell's account.
It is understood that a letter to the Australian Government handed to Mr Trowell by Mr Rasiah a few days later included, among its requests, an amount of $500,000 for "lobbying".
"There was no doubt in my mind what it (the $500,000) was referring to because he had discussed it at dinner," Mr Trowell said. "It would be an understatement to say that I was shocked. . . I thought it was insulting to the Indonesian judiciary."
Mr Rasiah yesterday admitted that he had made a written request for $500,000 but said it was to mount a PR campaign to create support for Corby.
What do we know of the judges here? Al Qaeda?
Well, the judges in Indonesia gave her over twenty years for a couple pounds of pot, but one of the Bali resort bombers got less than five years.
Al Qaeda probably paid, too.
A little bit more than that:
"The 27-year-old Australian beautician's fate was sealed Friday, when an Indonesian court found her guilty of smuggling over 4 kilograms (nine pounds of marijuana) into Bali." http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/27/corby.appeal/
That would be trafficking in any country. That would get you a hefty sentence in the US as well. Now why am I supposed to be sympathetic?
In some countries, that was just buying medicine in bulk...
Eight pounds of pot WOULD NOT get anywhere near this sentence for a person with no prior criminal record. And there have been a lot of cases where drug smugglers worked with baggage control workers to smuggle drugs in the luggage of innocent people.
In other words, pig infidel, dog woman deserved sentence for being too cheap by ROP judges.
In other words, pig infidel, dog woman deserved sentence for being too cheap by ROP judges.
Considering all the trouble they've had with Australian baggage handlers lately it's not too hard to believe her story.
"Now why am I supposed to be sympathetic?"
One of the Bali bombers got less than 5 years sentence for murdering scores.
In comparison... Marijuana is not a dangerous substance, and 9 pounds could be bought in Indoneisa for a smaller amount of money than in Australis. It would be like smuggling pot from the US to Mexico. It defies credibility.
Indonesia does not have due process, and there was attempted extortion.
Open rectum, extract head. OK?
Democrats, they are everywhere..
<< Marijuana is not a dangerous substance ... >>
In whose delusional fantasies?
[Although there is as much likelihood this young woman was smuggling 8.8 pounds of it frome Australia to Bali as there is of making a living smuggling it from Bellingham or Mount Vernon Washington to the appropriately named [North] Amercan Marijuana capital, [British] Columbia]
One of the Texas S&L crooks used to do that for his parties down in Mexico. The Mexicans never looked for folks smuggling it in, only out. So perhaps you need to broaden your horizons a little.
One of the Bali bombers got less than 5 years sentence for murdering scores.
As other posters have noted, they were probably willing to pay off the judges.
and there was attempted extortion.
You can find that in Chicago or in the courts of many other democrat controlled areas of this country.
Unlike you, I won't engage in personal insults.
It is possible that baggage handlers on each end were smuggling the drugs in innocent peoples luggage.
Possible. I'll need to Google up some more background info before I'd comment on that one way or the other.
That's what her lawyers claimed happened to her.
It is a known practice. Whether or not it happened here is unknown. There was no investigation by the court/local police.
It's the same here in Thailand. I used think of it as just another form of taxation, but having lived with it for several decades, I see the really destructive effects of a bribe-based bureaucracy.
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