Schapelle Corby's family pay her fine in hope of November parole

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/01/schapelle-corby-fine-parole-november

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Schapelle Corby's family have paid the $10,000 fine she received when she was sentenced to 20 years in prison as they prepare for her to be granted parole.

Corby was fined when she was found guilty of smuggling 4.2kg of marijuana into Indonesia in 2004.

The fine remained unpaid until a few weeks ago, when it was paid in cash, a Bali Corrections Board official has confirmed.

It is understood Schapelle's brother-in-law, Wayan Widiartha, made the payment.

The payment was one of the last in a string of preparations Corby made before lodging her application for parole, with estimates she could be out in November.

Corby has been eligible for 16 months but a complicated bureaucratic process has contributed to the almost glacial pace of putting together and lodging the application. If she is granted parole it will be on condition she does not return to Australia until 2018. Until then she will live with her sister Mercedes and her husband, Widiartha, in their family compound in Kuta and work for their surfwear business.

The governor of Kerobokan jail, where Corby is being held, has signed off on her parole application and Interpol has advised the Indonesian government that Corby is not wanted internationally on any other charges.

The application will now be passed to the Balinese provincial corrections department before being sent to Jakarta, where the justice minister will have to approve it.

The immigration department will need to grant permission to Corby to stay in Indonesia without the usual visas, as she will technically still be a prisoner.

An official from the corrections board, who did not want to be named, said Corby would probably not be released for a couple of months but that Bali officials had begun considering her application.

He said there were concerns about Corby's mental state but her family had made assurances they would look after her.

Corby was sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined about $10,000 in May 2005. She is due for release in 2016 after receiving a five-year prison reduction granted by the president of Indonesia, as well as a series of remissions.

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