Corby set back

'I didn't plant dope on Corby'
By Matt Cunningham and Mark Buttler
March 24, 2005
News.com.au

A MELBOURNE man has denied he planted marijuana in a surfboard bag that landed Schapelle Corby in a Bali jail fighting for her life.
The man, who wanted to be known only as John, was interviewed by Australian Federal Police agents this week after they received information from Ms Corby's lawyers.
John claimed AFP officers told him: "Without your help she's gone."
They are believed to have been acting on an affadavit supplied by a Victorian prisoner who has contacted Ms Corby's legal team purporting to have information that could save her.
But John, a former prisoner, told police he was not involved. "I told the AFP I had nothing to do with the drugs that the girl in Bali was arrested with," he said.
"I would love to be in a position to be able to get the girl in Bali out of prison."
The Howard Government last night said it would help clear the way for John to be flown to Bali to give evidence at the trial today. But it could act only on request from the Indonesian Government.
Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir said time was running out for the Gold Coast beauty therapy student.
"We need the prisoner here tomorrow," he said.
In Canberra, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Government was doing everything it could to help Ms Corby. "Because the witness is a prisoner in Victoria this requires a request by Indonesia to Australia under a bilateral agreement on mutual assistance in criminal matters," he said.
"The government stands ready to agree to a request and we are doing all we can to work with the Indonesian Government to facilitate this."
A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said no request had been received from Indonesia.
"If a request was received . . . the Attorney-General has indicated that we would work expeditiously to act upon it," she said.
Earlier, John told the Herald Sun that AFP agents believed he financed a smuggling operation between Brisbane and Sydney airports or had handled the drugs at some point. "They said information had been received that I was the man," he said.
"They said it came from three different sources. They were telling me that her life was in my hands. I'm supposed to be the financier.
"I didn't even have the money to take the bus home after they interviewed me. I had to borrow it."
John, a convicted burglar, said he had never been involved in drug trafficking, no had he ever met Ms Corby.
"The sad part is you see on the news she's all happy that this information has come out but there's nothing there," he said. "For them to come to me with all these allegations, there's obviously nothing there."
John, 38, said he was at a friend's house in Reservoir on Tuesday when they noticed they were being watched.
He had received a phone call from an agent requesting an interview and later spent four hours at AFP headquarters in the city.
John, who has spent eight years in Queensland and Victorian jails, believes the prisoner might be spreading the rumour in return for special treatment on the inside. "Criminals will give information for anything to get themselves out of trouble," he said.