Timothy Geoffrey Lee's extradition on alleged $30 million ecstasy bust approved by court in Bali
* By Cindy Wockner and Komang Suriadi
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* February 22, 2010 6:12PM
A BALI court has approved the extradition of Australian Timothy Geoffrey Lee to Sydney to face charges relating to a $30 million ecstasy bust.
Judge Daniel Palittin, in Denpasar District Court, granted the extradition today, saying that the Australian Government's request had been fulfilled and that the alleged crime for which he is wanted in NSW is on the list of extradictable offences.
Later this week Lee is expected to spend his first night at Bali's Kerobokan Jail which is already home to 11 other Australians including Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine.
Until now Lee has been held at the jail cells at Bali's police headquarters in Denpasar where his lawyers said he was living in difficult and harsh conditions in a crowded cell.
Members of the Bali Nine heroin gang, three of whom are on death row, are all held in one cell block known as the Tower Block.
Another Australian, Robert McJannett, who was arrested in late December, allegedly with 1.7 grams of marijuana in his luggage, is also in Kerobokan Jail awaiting his trial.
Lee, 44, who maintains his innocence, was supported at today's hearing by his mother who lives in Bali. He did not make any comment.
Lee, a dual Australian and British passport holder, was arrested in Bali, where he was living, in early January at the request of Australian police who told their Indonesian counterparts he was wanted for trial in NSW on charges of allegedly supplying a commercial quantity of prohibited drug and dealing with proceeds of crime.
Documents sent to authorities in Indonesia to support the arrest and extradition said the charges relate to Operation Lanyard - a NSW police operation which smashed a European drug syndicate importing ecstasy to Australia and which seized drugs with a street value of $30 million, including 1kg of cocain, 45kg of MDMA, 11kg of MDMA powder, 45 litres of MDMA oil and $200,000 cash.
However the court decision, that he should be extradited, is the start of what will be a long process and he is not expected to be sent home for some time yet. His extradition must now be approved by Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Lee is expected to be in prison in Bali for many months yet.
Extradition between Australia and Indonesia is a lengthy process and another Australian man, whose extradition has been approved, has been jailed in Jakarta for more than a year already awaiting extradition.
Lee and his lawyers had attempted to waive the need for the formal extradition and long wait by agreeing to voluntarily return to Australian in the company of Australian Federal Police officers however this was denied.
In a handwritten letter to authorities, Lee said: "I would like to say that I agree voluntarily to go to Australia without the extradition process. I write this statement without duress from anyone. And I declare that I am not guilty of the charges made against me.''
And his Australian lawyers wrote to Attorney-General Robert McClelland saying that Lee would return to Australia voluntarily.
They said that Lee was entitled to a presumption of innocence and that the conditions in which he is held are harsh.
In addition to delays in him leaving Indonesia they pointed out that he would spend up to three more years for him to be dealt with through the local and district courts of NSW.
"It could mean that Mr Lee's journey through the justice systems of Indonesia and NSW could take up to 4 years before he knows his fate,'' lawyer Paul Hardin said in the letter.