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Australian Federal Police raid Seven offices over Schapelle deal

Video: AFP officers raid the offices of Channel Seven as part of an investigation into the proceeds of crime.

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AFP-RAID-SEVEN-4Australian Federal Police officers have raided the offices of Channel Seven in both Pyrmont and Eveleigh today as part of an investigation into the proceeds of crime, following its dealings with Schapelle Corby.

Fairfax reports twelve AFP officers arrived about 8:55am this morning and were still in Seven buildings at 10.30am.

An Australian Federal Police spokesman said: “The AFP can confirm it has executed a number of search warrants in Sydney in relation to an ongoing Proceeds of Crime Act matter. As this matter is ongoing it’s not appropriate for the AFP to comment further.”

Seven has reportedly agreed to a $2m pricetag for the Corby interview.

This morning Seven news ran footage of the raid int their own offices with a “First on Seven” watermark.

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“As this matter is ongoing, it is not appropriate for the AFP to comment any further,” a spokeswoman for the AFP told news.com.au.

Mike Willesee says he is still hopeful of an interview despite the Corby family indicating it would comply with advice from Indonesian authorities not to proceed. still not spoken to his star subject but was “absolutely” hopeful the paid interview would go ahead.

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Seven has been contacted for comment.

UPDATE: Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam told The Australian the raid was an attack on the press.

“It’s a gross overreaction. The government has called to say they did not know this was happening,” he said.

“Full compliance has occurred. Documents were handed over immediately.

“You’ve got some heavy-handed goon who thinks they can just come storming in and terrorise people who are trying to carry on their duties.”

McWilliam said Seven’s offer for the Corby interview was well under $1 million — not the $2 million reported.

AFP officers objected to Seven cameras filming the incident.

37 Responses

  1. Seven’s indignation is hilarious & hypocritical – their reporters are masters of the fine art of bursting into private places/spaces/offices/houses all in the name of truth, justice, public interest etc etc etc etc. All without a warrant too. What goes around……

  4. Channel 7 have been saying they are paying Corby virtually nothing, now is is well under 1 million? That is still alot of money? I think they need to disclose how much.

  5. I’m just wondering if they are going to investigate the mysterious time problems television seem to have. Maybe there’s Black Holes located over or near some TV Stations causing time dilation so they are out of sync with the rest of Australia. It seems the rest of the world is unaffected. Oh well these Black Hole thingies seem to be very troublesome.

  6. “You’ve got some heavy-handed goon who thinks they can just come storming in and terrorise people who are trying to carry on their duties.”

    I guess that, since they canned TT, strictly speaking they’re not being actual hypocrites.

  8. i would have thought the same as Gaz re proceeds of crimes laws. I wouldn’t put it past someone at Nine making a fuss about this to make sure the feds investigated this anyway because they have sour grapes over missing out on the interview themselves, oh & the shitty ratings for the telemovie because of their own scheduling stupidity.

  9. It’d make a great reality series! If only they had some staff who knew something about making such shows, you know cameramen and stuff… Be great to see the Seven execs fight it out with the cops, lawyers at forty paces, dobbing one another in to get ahead, etc., and we could vote someone off the network every week!

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