SYDNEY, Dec 19: A senior media adviser for Australian lawmaker Clive Palmer, whose party holds the balance of power in the Senate, has been arrested as part of an investigation into the alleged kidnapping of a bank executive on an Indonesian island.
Queensland Police confirmed today that two men were arrested in Brisbane and a warrant was issued for a third person, currently not in Australia, as part of an investigation by a taskforce looking into financial crime and criminal motorcycle gangs.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said the three were alleged to have lured the National Australia Bank executive to Singapore and on to Batam Island in Indonesia using the pretence of a possible job offer from mining magnate Palmer.
Once there, the executive was strip searched, threatened and forced to make a statement recanting evidence he was providing in a A70 million dollars civil case, the broadcaster said.
Palmer confirmed his media adviser Andrew Crook had been detained but said he knew nothing of the case. ‘I’ve got no idea, no knowledge of it,’ Palmer told Reuters by telephone today.
In comments to the ABC, Palmer suggested the arrest was linked to political opponents, saying ‘it’s a black day for Australia if any of this… has anything to do with political freedom in this country’.
(AGENCIES)
Home International Adviser for key Australian lawmaker arrested over alleged kidnap of bank executive
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