‘Speechless’: How a single phone call changed the lives of the Bali Nine forever

With the five surviving members of the Bali Nine now back home, questions have re-emerged as to how one phone call might have changed their lives forever.

When then-19-year-old Scott Rush departed Sydney for Bali in 2005, his father Lee had barrister and family friend Bob Myers ask the Auistralian Federal Police to prevent him from leaving.

Rush and his former schoolmate Michael Czugaj were gearing up for an all-expenses-paid trip offered to them by Thanh Nguyen at a pub. The pair were also given a phone, leading Rush to conclude: “They must have wanted me to do something illegal.”

Rush and Czugaj were bought into the syndicate by Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, who died in prison after a battle with stomach cancer.

Lee Rush made a phone call he hoped would prevent his son from making the biggest mistake of his life. It may have sealed his fate. Picture: Supplied

Suspicious of the whole situation – which came just months after the arrest of 27-year-old Aussie Schapelle Corby – Scott’s father Lee decided to tip off the AFP in the hope they would prevent him from making the mistake of a lifetime.

“I was informed at 1.30 in the morning that Scott would be spoken to and asked not to board the flight to Bali,” Rush told ABC’s Australian Story in 2006.

“It wasn’t until about midmorning that I received a call from Bob and with a distressed tone in his voice he said” ‘Mate, we could not stop him, they have let him go through and he’s on his way to Bali’.”

Rush and Czugaj arrived in Bali on April 8, before checking into the same hotel that Indonesian police were using to watch their every move.

After meeting Nguyen at the Hard Rock Hotel, they were then introduced to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran – the ring leaders of the syndicate.

Lee Rush said he felt betrayed by the federal police when he learned of his sons arrest. Picture: AFP

Rush’s lawyers claim he and Czugaj were then told their families would be killed if they didn’t join 27-year-old Renae Lawrence and 29-year-old Martin Stephens – both of whom worked under Sukumaran at a Brisbane catering company – in strapping 2kg of heroin to each of their bodies and boarding a flight back to Australia.

Lee Rush said he felt “speechless” and “sickened to the gut” when he heard the news about his son’s arrest.

Many believed it was that tip-off that led to the imprisonment – and in the case of Sukumaran and Chan, eventual execution – of the Bali Nine.

PRESSURE MOUNTS

Almost 10 years after they had allegedly told 19-year-old Scott Rush he would be taking 2kg of heroin back to Australia, Sukumaran and Chan sang Amazing Grace as they were executed by firing squad on April 29, 2015.

Back home in Australia, pressure once again mounted against the AFP after the implications of their 2005 tip-off had grown significantly overnight.

Mr Colvin reiterated the AFP’s long held denial that any assurance was given to the Rush family that their son would be prevented from boarding.

Myuran Sukumaran (pictured) and Andrew Chan were executed in 2015 – a development that reopened old wounds for the AFP. Picture: Supplied

The AFP commissioner reaffirmed the position that it made the right call following the execution of Sukumaran and Chan. Picture: Supplied

As for the decision to tip off authorities, the AFP’s leadership made no apologies for a decision they admitted they might one day make again.

At the time, Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said: “Yes, I knew full well that by handing over the information and requesting surveillance and requesting evidence gathered, if they found them in possession of drugs they would take action and expose them to the death penalty.”

BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS OR CAUGHT RED-HANDED?

Rush touched back down in Brisbane on Thursday following renewed media attention on the group’s return to Australia.

He is now 39 and has returned to a country where much has changed – all as a result of the fateful phone call his father made almost two decades ago.

An AFP spokesman told The Age on Tuesday it has “enhanced a number of governance processes and procedures since 2005”, including new guidelines that require an oversight panel to approve any decision made concerning death penalty matters.

A parliamentary inquiry said that the oversight board should be expanded to include external experts and be independently reviewed on an annual basis.

In 2006, then deputy commissioner Michael Phelan made the call to give information on the syndicate to Indonesian authorities. Picture Gary Ramage

There is a chance Sukumuran and Chan might still be alive if such guidelines existed in 2005.

But on the other hand, all nine members of the group would also be alive and free today had they not committed a crime in Bali that carries the death penalty.

While then-commissioner Keelty may have denied the fact that their arrest was aided by the AFP’s tip-off, his comment in 2006 that “these people were caught red-handed with heroin in Indonesia” was anything but false.