The Australian Federal Police raid on Channel Seven’s Sydney office “will find no payment for Schapelle Corby because no payment has been made,” network personality Mike Willesee has declared in Bali.
He also said he had spoken to Corby for the first time, and that, though she had suffered mental illness, had been fine when they spoke.
As police were still searching in Channel Seven’s headquarters, Willesee emerged to say “there is no deal” with the Corby family.
Seven, he said, had bought nothing yet: “But we have, through a lot of hard work, positioned ourselves so that if there is an interview, we’ll be first in line.”
He did not deny that a payment was planned to Corby or a member of her family after the planned interview, but said no payment had been made yet.
He also said the $2 million figure that has been widely quoted for the exclusive TV expose was “a lie and a fantasy and should finally be buried”.
Seven’s “hard work” so far includes exclusive access to the paroled drug smuggler, renting villas alongside the Corby family and providing three or more security guards to protect Schapelle from other media in the area.
Eight days after he swept into the villa compound in Seminyak with the Corby entourage, Willesee said he had now spoken to Schapelle.
“I’ve been talking with Schapelle and she’s in good shape. We’ve had some very good talks. But we haven’t talked about the interview …
“She’s suffered in jail, and she’s come out with some mental issues which she appears to be dealing with very well. But you can’t say if she’s good today that she’ll be good tomorrow.
“All I see is good, and I’m hopeful for her sake, even more than ours, that that continues. But she’s in pretty good shape now; so I’d be optimistic for her,” Willesee said.
He said he had not talked to the Corbys “about the interview or business,” saying: “I’ve just been chatting … It was a private conversation, it wasn’t anything. But it was interesting.”
The attitude of the Indonesian authorities to any interview is crucial, after the deputy justice minister Denny Indrayana strongly advised the family not to go ahead, paid or unpaid, because it may cause “restlessness” or “upset” within Indonesia.
But Willesee and Seven appear intent on pushing ahead, hoping that what Corby ultimately says in the interview will be accepted by the Indonesian authorities.
“We’d be very careful in an interview to see that we didn’t breach any understanding that we had with the Indonesian authorities; we’d be very respectful of that,” he said.
Asked, though, if he or Seven had or was trying to any kind of “understanding,” Willesee said they were not.
Twelve Australian Federal Police officers arrived at Channel Seven’s Pyrmont offices about 8.55am on Tuesday. Officers remained inside the building at 10.30am.
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Channel Seven reporters tweeted pictures of police inside and outside the network’s headquarters.
#BREAKING: AFP officers are currently raiding Seven West offices in an investigation into #Schapelle Corby proceeds. pic.twitter.com/mSUiliNff2
– 7News Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) February 17, 2014
