Corby may wait another month: lawyer

Tuesday Sep 27 00:00 AEST

Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby may have to wait another month to learn if she can go free from a Bali jail after judges wrote to Indonesia's highest court to ask for more time to make up their minds.

The appellant court, which could theoretically increase Corby's 20-year sentence, had been due to rule by Thursday whether it would agree to quash or cut Corby's sentence.

But lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea told AAP that the judges wrote to the Supreme Court to request another 30 days.

The request is extraordinary because a time extension is usually granted only once and the High Court has already pushed out the detention period by a month.

But Hutapea said deliberations had been delayed by a legal conference currently underway in Bali.

"I don't want to speculate too much, because we could be fighting for Corby's life, I don't want to criticise the court."

Another of Corby's lawyers, Erwin Siregar, earlier said he was confident the 28-year-old would receive good news and he expected a decision by Tuesday at the latest.

He also promised to launch an appeal to the Supreme Court in Jakarta if it failed.

"We expect a good result in the court, but we will have to wait and see," he said.

The Gold Coast woman was arrested on October 8 last year after customs officers at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked luggage.

Corby maintains the drugs were not hers and must have been planted in her baggage by an Australian drug gang using her as an unwitting drug courier.

Her lawyers had hoped to organise a video link from Australia to allow unidentified witnesses to present new evidence about who really owned the drugs, but they were unable to convince Bali's High Court they could find fresh witnesses.

Senior judges said the decision was up to the lower court, where the video link request has already been rejected.

Hutapea last week said he hoped to present a new report into Australian airport security measures to appellate judges to help bolster the former beauty student's claims.

Siregar said without another extension order or an appeal court ruling, Corby would have to be freed from Kerobokan on Thursday when the current order expired.

September 05, 2005

THE Howard Government has agreed to pay Schapelle Corby's original lawyers $US96,000 ($126,000) for their failed defence of the Queensland beauty school student.

Ending months of speculation, Corby's first lawyer, Bali-based Lily Lubis, told The Australian she had already received a cheque for $US46,160 and was waiting for the rest of the fee.

"Apparently for the balance we have to again apply to them," she said.

"Even though they have already approved it, they are asking us to submit some details."

Ms Lubis' s payment was drawn from the Special Circumstances (Overseas) Scheme, administered by the Attorney-General's department.

It is understood all nine Australians arrested in Bali in April in connection with a heroin-smuggling ring have also applied for the assistance, and one claim has been approved in principle.

Convicted in May of trying to bring 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali and sentenced to 20 years in prison, Corby almost immediately sacked Ms Lubis and her colleague, Sri Lankan adviser Vasu Rasiah.

Mr. Rasiah has now complained that the Australian Government would not agree to pay for his role as case coordinator, saying the approved $126,000 fee was extremely low.

Although it is clear Canberra paid the bulk of Corby's legal fees, Mr. Vasiah said mobile phone entrepreneur Ron Bakir, once considered her champion, had covered some expenses.

A spokesman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he could not confirm any details, but that the agreed legal fee for the Corby defence was "probably in the ballpark".

He said that under the system, foreign lawyers submitted a budget. After approval, they claimed against it with invoices and receipts.

Meanwhile, Corby's new lawyers have lodged an appeal against her conviction, and a decision is expected to be handed down within weeks.