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SNOWING IN BALI

Most foreigners arrested on drugs charges in Bali avoid serving their sentences by bribing authorities in Indonesia’s notoriously corrupt legal system.

– AAP, 25 July 2002

I tell you, everybody was getting paid. The foreigners were making these guys rich. The judge was driving a brand new white Mercedes. They realised that finally they could make money out of this, because they think all foreigners like us, if we’re having a beer on the beach, we’re millionaires. And they rounded up a bunch of foreigners all at one time and they started this business. The cops I think are the ones that figured it out – that there was a money machine, a cash cow, in their town.

– Gabriel, American surfer

It wasn’t just the police cashing in on the new business; everyone from snitches to prosecutors, lawyers and judges, were all suddenly getting windfalls. Even local journalists were benefiting. Lawyers were approaching them to keep their clients’ stories out of the papers, or at least restrict it to a small story off page one, to avoid the spotlight so cops and courts could more easily accept a bribe for a light sentence without scrutiny.

If I’m a western expat busted with 4 grams of cocaine at home, how much do I need to pay to keep it out of your newspaper?

It depends how rich you are. More rich you are, the more expensive the price. If I know you have a yacht, you have your own aeroplane, maybe a different price. Sometimes I wouldn’t take money, if it’s a big story.

How does it work?

Mostly the modus operandi is via lawyer. ‘I have client, and my client doesn’t want you to expose them, would you help me please?’