COVER STORY

CORRUPTION, LIES & BL ACK MAIL

THE NEW EV IDENCE THAT EXCLUSIVE

INTERVIEW
LIFE IN A
BALI JAIL

COULD clea r SCHAPELLE

The arrest and trial of Aussie dad Robert plenty of time to think. His prison
journal makes disturbing reading,
McJannett has shed new light on the web detailing bouts of sickness, casual
cruelty, coercion and demands for

Schapelle has
of corruption and shady deals in Bali’s more and more money, including
$US550 just to see a doctor.
vehemently
maintained her
justice system. Robert says he was forced Partly inspired by the Bali
Nine’s Andrew Chan, a born-again
innocence since her
arrest in 2004. to plead guilty to a drug offence he didn’t Christian, he prayed desperately
that he would eventually be freed
commit, or face a punitive sentence ‘like to see his son and daughters –
Taylor, 12, and Amber, 10 – again.

I Corby’. Our shock report offers new evidence

t was a chilling moment
for Aussie father-of-three
Robert McJannett.
Accused of smuggling a tiny
quantity of marijuana into
Bali, the crane driver kept
protesting his innocence.
Seriously ill with liver disease,
bowel disease, depression and
a painful tooth infection, his story
stayed the same through hours of
interrogation. Somehow he’d
been set up. He was not guilty.
And then laughing police
chief Colonel Kokot Indarto,
head of the island’s narcotics
division, turned to him and
said: ‘You don’t want to admit
this is yours? How will you
prove it? We found it in your
luggage. If you keep this up,
you will get like Corby got.’
Suddenly, with a shock
of horror, Robert realised that
he could be facing a lengthy
sentence inside Bali’s notorious
Kerobokan jail – just like
Schapelle – unless he did
what he was told.
Reluctantly pleading guilty,
it borrowed from friends –
in payments to officials.
At times he was so sick
he thought he was going to
die, and on at least two occasions
he seriously contemplated
killing himself to escape the
misery of Kerobokan and his
devastated career.
‘For five months I witnessed
blackmail, bribery and corruption
on an unprecedented scale,’ the
49-year-old told reporters on his
arrival back in Australia.
‘It is clearly not possible
to receive a fair trial in the
Bali justice system.’
Robert’s arrest over 1.7 grams
of marijuana has disturbing
parallels to the heartbreaking
ordeal of Schapelle Corby, who
is currently serving 20 years in
Kerobokan after being convicted
of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana
in a boogie-board bag in 2004.
Both were arrested at
Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai Airport
en route to family holidays, both
hotly denied any wrongdoing.
Both asked to see any
to back Schapelle’s claims she’s innocent…
But all their requests were
refused. Instead, they were
paraded before the local media
while back-slapping police
and customs officers passed
around the so-called ‘evidence’
– contaminating it forever.
‘My experience certainly
raises a lot of important questions
about the Corby case,’ says
Robert, a veteran trade unionist,
political candidate and anti-
corruption whistleblower, who
travelled to Bali for a five-day
break with his son Josh Daley,
21. ‘There’s definitely a racket
going on over there. The entire
system is corrupt. One thing is
certain, that you are going to be
found guilty – it’s just a question
of how long it takes.
‘Then you buy your sentence,
the more money, the lighter it
is, and if you don’t pay you’re
stuffed. The problem with
Schapelle was that it all got
blown out of proportion and
then she had no chance. It
nearly happened to me too.’
During the months of pain
and uncertainty that followed his
arrest last December, Robert had
Robert’s plight made
national headlines as he
did everything possible,
including praying and
forking out cash, to
Today Robert insists that the
marijuana was somehow planted on
him – ‘I’m not stupid enough to take
drugs into Indonesia, believe me’ –
but that Balinese authorities heavied
him into pleading guilty.
He maintains that he had
never seen the narcotics before
a customs officer stopped him
and discovered a large metal
package in his luggage, which
had mysteriously failed to trigger
Australian airport security.
Then the official disappeared into
an office, only to return with a sports
sock – ‘definitely not one of mine’ –
containing the 1.7 grams of marijuana.
During 22 hours of questioning,
he claims he was left in no doubt
that continuing to press his
innocence would only lead to
a heavier penalty. ‘It was clear by
this stage that anything other than
a full admission of guilt was going
to result in a Corby-like sentence.’
He sacked his first lawyer
after paying him $3500 – ‘He
wanted me to plead not guilty,
and I rapidly realised that was
stupid’ – then coughed up

For months I witnessed

he eventually spent five months
behind bars before returning
to Perth a shattered and angry
man just over four weeks ago.
The legal battle cost Robert
his health, his career, his car and
more than $70,000 – $40,000 of
24
CCTV footage covering their regain his freedom. a further $68,000 to the
departure from Australia and legal eagle who finally
their arrival in Bali. represented him in court.
Both also begged for the
drugs allegedly found in their
At first he was
asked for $US100,000 blackmail, bribery
luggage to be finger-printed,
as proof of guilt or innocence.
then $US105,000,
but pleaded and corruption
poverty. The second lawyer
then returned with an offer of
$US60,000 plus a minimum
of $24,000 in Australian
Government funding.
The eventual deal was
he would escape with a five-
month sentence, if he pleaded
guilty and also admitted to
being addicted to marijuana.
Luckily, perhaps, he had
actually been to drug rehab
10 years ago and could provide
the proof. From this, the lawyer
and prosecutor proceeded to
create a story that he had been
using for 30 years.
‘I was stunned by the
brazen nature of the corruption,’
says Robert, who lost 15kg
during his imprisonment. ‘At
the start I was told I would get
a minimum of five years under
the heavy importation law,
articles 111 and 113.
‘Much later I was told there
were new “user” laws. Under
article 127 the sentence was zero
to four years. If I paid more, and
could prove I was addicted, it
would be article 134, with a
maximum sentence of six months.’
Robert had no choice but
to agree with the arrangement,
although he says: ‘It was the
most difficult thing I have ever
Robert is relieved to
be reunited with his
kids – Josh, Taylor
and Amber.
had to do. I felt like jumping up
and screaming at the judges,
it’s all so wrong. It’s a big
business venture totally about
money. Everyone gets a cut at
all levels of the system.
‘The verdict was what I was
expecting, what I’d bought, but
I was told to look surprised. The
whole thing was a pantomime.
NEW PHOT
SCHAPELLEO
IN PRISON
Robert says he has serious
concerns about Schapelle’s
deteriorating mental state.
But if I’d dared to even hint it
was a set-up, they would have
dropped their bundle and I would
have got 20 years like Schapelle.’
During his Bali nightmare,
he met and befriended the former
Gold Coast beauty student in
Kerobokan prison. When he
grew a beard, sad and confused
Schapelle mistook him for
her father, who passed away
in January 2008.
‘She’s a mess,’ Robert says
bluntly, describing how she
is bullied by another female
inmate – despite constant
‘Schapelle is a mess... she can’t
even string a sentence together’
scrutiny by guards – and virtually
ignored by male members of the
Bali Nine. ‘I guess I was expecting
her to look five years older, but
I wasn’t prepared for the sight I
saw, that’s for sure...
‘There’s no doubt she is
suffering from a severe mental
illness. It’s chalk and cheese from
the way she was at her trial. She’s
a different person – different on
the inside too. She can’t even
string a sentence together.
‘I used to see her about
three times a week, and she
would often remark about
people living in her cell roof or
basement. She is also convinced
that the jail’s visiting area is
bugged and filmed.
‘But I can’t blame her for
being paranoid about cameras.
She’s under the microscope
24/7 and it’s terrible for her,’
Robert adds. ‘To some there she
is nothing more than a trophy,
a commodity. She is tormented
and teased and when the local
media are after a story on her,
it’s open slather.
‘It’s not good for her health.
If I had copped the treatment
she does, I would have flipped
out in five months. She has
been in jail now for almost six
years, but I’ve recently heard
that out of the 55 or so convicted
of the Bali bombings, only 13
are still in prison.
‘[Others] have either been
paroled or set free, so why not
Schapelle? She doesn’t pose
a threat to anyone, does she?
‘Schapelle won’t survive
unless something is done to
help her. The medication alone
is going to kill her. I call on the
government in this election
year to bring Schapelle home,
before it’s too late.’
By Jenny Brown
Photos: Irene Trilianos, Renae Photography