JAKARTA: An Indonesia police chief has claimed Australian officials paid off people smugglers to turn back a boat full of asylum seekers.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the police chief on the island of Rote, Hidayat, said six crew members had been given US$5000 (A$6510) each by Australian officials before they were apprehended on the island.
“I saw the money, the $5000 was in $100 notes,” Mr Hidayat told the newspaper.
The crew acquired a total of US$30,000 (A$39,000), which had been wrapped in plastic bags and given to them by an Australian customs officer called Agus, who was fluent in Indonesian.
The crew are now being processed on Rote for people-smuggling offences, but will be allowed to keep the money as it was not ‘crime-related’.
The incident occurred in late May, with Australian navy and Customs officials intercepting a boat carrying 65 people from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar who were seeking asylum in New Zealand.
A letter sent to the New Zealand government and signed by all those aboard the boat also reportedly confirms the crew was given around A$7000 each.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton yesterday denied anyone had been paid, simply saying “no” when posed with a question directly related to the payments yesterday.
Mr Dutton also refused follow up questions, towing the line on the government’s policy of not discussing “on-water matters”.
