Seven in legal win over AFP in Corby raids case

SEVEN may sue the police after a court quashed warrants used to raid the media group in search of payments to Schapelle Corby.

Schapelle Corby, pictured earlier this month on the way to check in for parole, was the subject of a media bidding war. Picture: Edoardo Zul

SEVEN West Media (SWM) is considering suing the Australian Federal Police for trespass and false imprisonment after its search warrants were quashed in Federal Court today.

The Federal Court ordered that a raft of search warrants issued to the AFP last month be quashed as invalid and to no effect.

The court order covers warrants used to raid the offices of Seven West Media, Pacific Magazines and Addisons Lawyers in search of documents related to possible arrangements between SWM and its associated companies for an interview with the convicted drug smuggler.

In a statement released after the decision, SWM chief executive called the court’s finding “a victory for free speech”.

“We abhor the notion that it is apparently fine to seize journalists’ correspondence, notes or contact lists,” Mr Worner said.

Seven’s commercial director, Bruce McWilliam said after the finding that the warrants were quashed for “significant legal error.”

“The judge said the Federal Police appeared not to understand what literary proceeds orders were and pursued as if (it were a) criminal matter,’’ he said.

Seven is seeking costs, and, McWilliam said, Corby may also seek indemnity costs. The company also said it was considering other options to redress the costs it incurred as part of the AFP’s investigation.

A hearing on costs will be held at a later date.

Judge Jayne Jagot said the warrants were “materially affected by legal error” and that none of the parties raided were, or ever could be, suspected of committing an offence.

Seven went to court arguing the AFP should not have been granted search warrants to conduct simultaneous, day-long raids on four Sydney offices in an unsuccessful bid to uncover proof that the Seven Network and New Idea magazine had entered a deal to pay convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby for her first post-jail interview.

Among the documents supplied to the AFP by Seven in early February was a January letter from New Idea to Corby’s sister Mercedes, confirming an agreement for an exclusive interview with her.

Mercedes would be paid $25,000 within two weeks of the article hitting the stands, it said.

Another letter, this time from Seven Network to Mercedes, outlined an agreement for an “exclusive” interview with journalist Mike Willesee for their program Sunday Night.

The letter recorded Mercedes Corby’s agreement to do the interview and “use her best endeavours” to get her sister involved. In exchange, Seven would pay for Mercedes, Schapelle and the rest of the Corby family to be located in a secure villa for the duration of the “exclusivity period”.

But following the production of these documents, the AFP said the media organisations had still not complied with the production order and so they applied for and were granted search warrants.

The AFP obtained search warrants from a magistrate on the basis of an application that stated Seven lawyer Justine Munsie was “reasonably suspected of having committed the offence stated in the relevant warrant”.

But the AFP later admitted Ms Munsie was named mistakenly in an “innocent word-processing error”.

Schapelle Corby, 36, spent more than nine years in jail after being found guilty of attempting to smuggle more than four kilograms of marijuana into Bali in a bodyboard bag.

She was released on parole on February 10 and promptly whisked away to a luxury resort.

The AFP is considering whether or not to appeal.

Additional reporting: AAP