Convicted Aussie drug smuggler fires RI legal team
Convicted Aussie drug smuggler fires RI legal team
An Australian woman whose 20-year sentence for drug smuggling in Indonesia caused outcry in her homeland has sacked her legal team amid allegations it planned to try to bribe the judges hearing her appeal, reports said Saturday.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper said Schapelle Corby was furious over the bribery allegations, while the Sydney Morning Herald said she told her Indonesian lawyer her case was a mess before sacking her in a telephone call.
"Once Schapelle heard people talking about bribery, she wanted to make a fresh start," Walter Tonetto, a member of Corby's new Indonesian legal team, told the Australian Associated Press news agency. does not want to be connected with anything improper and illegal."
Corby, a 27-year-old beautician, was convicted last month of trying to smuggle 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia's resort island of Bali.
Corby, who steadfastly denied knowing the drugs were in her luggage, was sentenced to 20 years in Bali's Kerobokan prison. The verdict and long sentence sparked public outrage across Australia, where many people protested her innocence and condemned the Indonesian justice system.
The anti-Indonesian feeling resulted in two packages filled with suspicious white powder, which eventually proved harmless, being sent to Jakarta's embassy in Canberra.
After publicly linking the packages to anger caused by the Corby case, Prime Minister John Howard called for the public to calm down.
Since the security scares, which were condemned by Corby's legal team, the mood in Australia has eased, although the case still generates intense public interest.
The bribery allegations were raised by Perth-based lawyer Mark Trowell, who was assisting the Corby team at the request of the Australian government.
Trowell told the West Australian newspaper this week Corby's Indonesian lawyers had asked for A$500,000 (US$385,000) to bribe the appeal judges, an allegation they strongly denied.
While Corby is attempting to have her conviction quashed, Indonesian prosecutors have launched a separate appeal for an increase to her 20-year sentence, which is considered light under Indonesia's tough drugs laws.