Chief planner of the 60 Minutes snatch scandal says he can prove how Channel Nine paid him
CHANNEL 9’s Tracy Grimshaw has defended the detained 60 Minutes crew, saying they aren’t “tabloid cowboys”, as claims emerge that Nine paid for the snatch scandal.
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CHANNEL 9’s Tracy Grimshaw has defended the detained 60 Minutes crew, saying they aren’t “tabloid cowboys”, as claims emerge that Nine paid for the snatch scandal.
Ms Grimshaw said she would be “volunteering to be a character witness for them”, starting with a first person piece for The Australian today, where she spoke fondly of reporter Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, soundman David Ballment and cameraman Ben Williamson.
Ms Grimshaw stated her four colleagues currently behind bars in Beirut were not “tabloid cowboys”, contrary to some reports.
“They are not a threat to society. That’s probably the biggest Captain Obvious statement you will read all day. They are good people who care about what they do, who love their families and friends and are loved very much back,” she wrote.
“And frankly after some of the malicious, ill-considered, rabidly self serving and in some cases manufactured rubbish that has been written and said about our friends in the past week, I think it’s time you heard something different.”
Ms Grimshaw’s comments come after Today Show co-host and journalist Karl Stefanovic also defended Ms Brown, saying: “Tara is a friend. She is a colleague. She is a mother. She is a brilliant journalist,” he wrote in a column for News Corp Australia.
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“She has consistently broken stories, and forensically exposed wrong doing in society all around the world. She has religiously and without favour fought for the truth.”
Ray Martin has also spoken out, saying: “I know the crew are highly ethical, and I can’t believe they would do something that’s unethical.”
The comments from Nine’s high-profile journalists come as Adam Whittington, the chief planner of the failed snatch of Sally Faulkner’s children, is poised to present documentary evidence to Beirut prosecuting judge Rami Abdullah at tonight’s hearing at the Baabda court, directly linking two payments from Channel Nine to himself.
In an explosive revelation, Whittington has told News Corp he has the receipt of two payments coming straight from the Channel Nine accounts department.
Whittington said he received two internet transfers of funds: the first for 40 percent of the agreed fee of more than $115,000, and then a second for the remaining 60 percent from Channel Nine several months ago.
The money was for the planning and recovery of three-year-old Noah and five year old Lahela from their southern Beirut home so they could be returned to Faulkner.
“It was direct from Channel Nine, it was from their accounts department and they paid it in two instalments,’’ Whittington said from behind a heavily meshed door at the Baabda detention centre in Beirut.
“I have the receipts and internet payments, for them (Channel Nine) to claim they weren’t involved is a joke.’’
Whittington’s claims come as relationships between all of those involved in the botched operation at a southern Beirut bus stop on the morning of April 6 have begun to disintegrate, with lawyers for Channel 9 and Faulkner appearing to distance themselves from Whittington’s company Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI).
Weekend talks regarding the custody of the children also ended without resolution, with Faulkner’s lawyer Ghassan Moghabghab suggesting that any new deal making was not between Faulkner and Channel Nine, but between the children’s father Ali Elamine and Channel Nine. He said this might be happening “not between the lawyers but another level’’.
Moghabghab said Faulkner had agreed to relinquish custody but was told by Elamine’s lawyer: “We are not in a hurry to talk about this’’.
There are also new allegations that Faulkner’s estranged husband had been cognisant of the kidnapping plans after being tipped off by a confidante of Faulkner.
In addition to Whittington’s claims, the court has already received a witness statement from one of those arrested that the detailed operation was paid by 60 Minutes.
Moghabghab said “Sally has no money’’ when asked if she had been an intermediary between Channel Nine and Whittington’s firm.
The distinction is critical because if the “recovery’’ payment came straight from Channel Nine it implicates the television station in a possible criminal conspiracy. However if Channel Nine paid Faulkner for the story, they would have had no control over how she used the money and would have been on the scene only to report the news.
Channel Nine last night declined to comment on the allegations.
Lebanese legal experts have warned that Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes crew may face many further days in detention even in the best-case scenario if the charges are eventually dropped, as the prosecuting judge would generally take up to a week and a half to come to his decision. The influx of 1.2m Syrian refugees into Lebanon has placed severe strain on the judicial system leading to delays and severely crowded cells in the detention centres and jails.
At the moment three different accusations against the nine have been lodged with the prosecutors: from the police, from Elamine and also from Faulkner’s former mother-in-law Ibtissam Berri, who claimed she was hit in the head with a gun. The recovery crew has disputed this.
Faulkner’s lawyer will ask the court to release Faulkner on bail and to consider the operation as a family custody matter rather than a kidnapping. But talks broke down over the weekend even though Moghabghab said Faulkner had agreed to all of the custody requests demanded by elamine.
The claims against the 60 Minutes crew: Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, soundman David Ballment and cameraman Ben Williamson and the CARI operatives, Whittington, his tattoo artist former client Craig Michael, and two Lebanese security personnel Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour are problematic.
Judge Abdullah has already warned that he believes a crime has been committed and he has been keen to find out which Channel Nine official had signed off on the assignment.
Originally published as Chief planner of the 60 Minutes snatch scandal says he can prove how Channel Nine paid him
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