New twist in cocaine set-up case for Amber Sceat’s stepfather Phillip Sceats
It was a race against time to save Sydney socialite Amber Sceats’ stepdad Phillip George Sceats from death row. Now, what action the cops took is in dispute.
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Exclusive: Investigators who helped save Sydney socialite Amber Sceats’ stepdad Phillip George Sceats from the gallows in Singapore have contradicted evidence given by the Australian Federal Police this week.
AFP deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney told independent Senator Rex Patrick during Estimates hearings in Canberra that the AFP had engaged in discussions with not only the investigators but Singaporean police, and the NSW police while Mr Sceats was still on death row facing cocaine trafficking charges.
But former Queensland police officer Oliver Laurence and former Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Graham Rynders said the only contact was their emails requesting an AFP investigation into who framed Mr Sceats, being referred to the AFP NSW Acting State Manager Kirsty Schofield and her team.
And they maintain they never heard from the AFP on the subject again.
Mr Laurence and Mr Rynders said they did not get a response to their offers to fly to Sydney to meet with AFP officers to discuss the case and how to progress an investigation into who put cocaine in Mr Sceats suitcase.
News Corp Australia revealed this week Mr Sceats’ harrowing 353 day order on death row after he was singled out as he arrived at Singapore’s Changai airport and almost 90 grams of cocaine found in his suitcase.
He was arrested in March 2018 while transiting through Changi Airport on his way to a surprise holiday in Langkawi to mark his 64th birthday
Mr Sceats’ family hired their own investigators - including top Singapore lawyer Amarick Gill and three former high-ranking Australian police commissioners - to get him freed.
A list of documents released under Freedom of Information laws show after referral documents were received from the investigators in early December 2018, the AFP did nothing until February 12, 2019, when a case note was logged in the file.
It logged another note on February 21, 2019, when the AFP received an inquiry about their involvement in the case, two days before Mr Sceats was released.
The AFP has declined to answer any questions from News Corp after the evidence in Estimates.
At Estimates, AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw revealed the AFP had discussions with Singaporean police, but declined to reveal details because it was a case involving capital punishment – even though Mr Sceats no longer faces the death penalty.
Mr Kershaw did not reveal whether those discussions included asking the Singapore police who tipped them off that Mr Sceats would be carrying cocaine from Sydney to Singapore.
It is understood NSW Police are now taking up the investigation of who framed Phillip Sceats.
Mr Sceats now wants an investigation into who in Australia framed him.
The case has sparked widespread concern from state and Federal MPs as well as Mr Gill who said he was alarmed the Australian police had not investigated who in Australia was behind the plot.
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Mr Gill also wants answers saying he has repeatedly asked for the identity of the person who called to tip-off Singaporean police, but was told by Singaporean authorities they could not authorise the disclosure to him.
Mr Kershaw told Estimates this week there were strict parameters around what the AFP could do and say on Mr Sceats case because it involved the death penalty.
“There are certain things we are not able to share,” he told Estimates. Before offering Senator Patrick a private briefing.
Mr Kershaw said it was a tricky situation, claimed there were some inaccuracies in some of the revelations about Mr Sceats, but conceded the AFP had not opened its own investigation to find out what had happened to Mr Sceats, or who committed by the alleged crimes of conspiring to smuggle cocaine and to commit an offence against an Australian overseas.
Mr Kershaw also said he did not know what the nature of the engagement AFP had with the private investigation team but agreed to take the question on notice.
Natalie.obrien@news.com.au
Originally published as New twist in cocaine set-up case for Amber Sceat’s stepfather Phillip Sceats