Pubdate: Mon, 16 May 2005
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Matthew Moore, Jakarta and Brendan Nicholson, Canberra
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Schapelle+Corby

CHIEF JUDGE REJECTS PM'S CORBY LETTER

A letter sent by the Howard Government to prosecutors in the Schapelle 
Corby case, detailing accusations of drug smuggling against Australian 
baggage handlers, will have no bearing on the verdict after the chief judge 
in the case dismissed it as irrelevant.

The letter has also annoyed the prosecutors and Corby's Indonesian lawyers, 
who see it as too little too late.

Chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said the letter, revealed by Prime 
Minister John Howard yesterday, had no legal standing and should be ignored.

"You can't consider it as a fact," he said. "According to our system, facts 
should be presented in court hearings, not outside of court hearings."

Mr Wiswantanu suggested the letter bordered on intervention. "Every 
government understands it cannot intervene," the prosecutor said.

The letter, which he had not seen, was not a "fact" as defined by law, and 
the only way for Corby to be acquitted was to prove her claim that someone 
else had planted 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her luggage.

"It's . . . a letter containing information but it has no meaning (and) no 
legal status," Mr Wiswantanu said.

The remarks were backed by Chief Judge Linton Sirait, who said the letter 
would make no difference to the verdict. "We don't watch what happens in 
Australia," he said. "We just keep moving with what we are doing."

The letter, by the First Assistant Secretary of the Department of Foreign 
Affairs and Trade, Rod Smith, was sent to Corby's lawyers in Indonesia on 
Friday at the request of Corby's Australian lawyers

It is to be passed today to the judges hearing the case in Denpasar 
District Court.

The letter, which confirms that the Australian Federal Police has been 
investigating alleged drug trafficking by baggage handlers for the past six 
months, says a Sydney-based syndicate has been dismantled.

"The police believe the baggage handlers were on duty on 8 October, 2004 
(the day Corby was arrested in Bali), when a shipment of drugs was brought 
into Sydney international airport," the letter says.

Corby's Indonesian lawyers said the letter did not contain any of the 
specific information they needed to help their client prove her claim that 
baggage handlers placed the marijuana in her luggage.

"This does not say anything," said Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Corby's 
lawyers. "Does it say they have a drug trafficking problem in Australia? 
They just talk about the arrests they have made there. They are just 
blowing their trumpet."

The Australian head of Corby's defence team, Robin Tempoe, said the letter 
raised questions as to why the Federal Police had consistently undermined 
Corby's defence, given it had been investigating baggage handlers' 
involvement in drug trafficking for six months.

Mr Howard said yesterday that he could not interfere in another country's 
justice system.

"I know that if a foreigner were arrested in Australia and charged with an 
offence and the president or prime minister of another country started 
telling our courts what to do, Australians would be mightily angry," he 
told Channel Ten.

"But having said all that, I feel for the girl . . . I can only repeat my 
fervent hope that the verdict is true and fair and right and just."

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said he sincerely hoped Corby would be acquitted. 
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