AFP warrant was suspect: Seven
Australian Federal Police have been accused of giving false information in unprecedented raids on the Seven Network over its dealings with Schapelle Corby.
Seven's commercial director Bruce McWilliam said yesterday officers made misleading accusations about a lawyer to get a warrant for a series of armed raids at Seven offices across Sydney on Tuesday.
In tense scenes that stretched into the night, almost 40 officers with guns and pepper spray raided Seven West's head office and the offices of Sunday Night and Pacific Magazines.
The AFP said the operation, which Seven West described as regrettable and unprecedented - was part of a proceeds of crime investigation into a rumoured network interview deal with convicted drug smuggler Corby.
"We will be challenging what's happened," Mr McWilliam said. "We think it's pretty shabby."
In a letter to Attorney- General George Brandis yesterday, Seven West chief executive Tim Worner accused the AFP of justifying the warrants by falsely claiming a Seven solicitor committed a crime by failing to comply with AFP requests for information on dealings with Corby.
Mr McWilliam said an AFP officer admitted as much to the female solicitor in the raids.
"They said, in effect, 'Don't worry, love, we say that in all these things. We won't be doing anything about it. We just need it to get the order'," Mr McWilliam said.
In the letter to Mr Brandis, Mr Worner said that when the Seven solicitor asked about the allegation, she was told she "should not worry as the AFP probably wouldn't need to execute the order in any event".
Mr Worner said the company had complied with all AFP requests for information over its dealings with Corby and the "heavy handed" AFP action elicited only one more document, which was "an unsigned agreement for a deal never consummated".
Mr Worner outlined a chronology of the company's dealings with the AFP over the past week and a half, setting out the lengths the company went to to comply with the order.
In the raids, AFP agents said they were searching for evidence that Seven had breached the Proceeds of Crime Act by paying Corby for an interview.
Seven said no payments had been made and no agreements had been reached.
Questions were also asked yesterday about the conduct of the raids after officers refused to supply a copy of the warrant when asked and tried to stop staff observing the search.
Mr Worner said an estimated 34 officers, many armed, raided "peaceful office settings".
'We will be challenging what's happened. We think it's pretty shabby.'"Seven West commercial director *Bruce McWilliam *
