Sydney--Australia on Monday urged Indonesia to ensure all legal processes have been cleared of corruption before executing two of its nationals as bribery allegations surfaced regarding their drug smuggling trial.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop spoke to her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Sunday evening while Prime Minister Tony Abbott has written to President Joko Widodo to again plead for the executions to be halted.
"Bali Nine" drug traffickers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan could face the firing squad as early as Tuesday, along with others from Brazil, Nigeria, the Philippines and an Indonesian prisoner.
Bishop said the men should not be executed while legal questions remain.
"And there's also a separate investigation underway by the Indonesian Judicial Commission into claims of corruption into the original trial and both of these processes raise questions about the integrity of the sentencing and the clemency process.
On Monday, Fairfax Media published allegations of corruption by the judges who sentenced the pair in 2006, claiming they asked for more than one billion rupiah -- around Aus$133,000 at the time -- to give them a prison term of less than 20 years.
It cited their then Indonesian lawyer, Muhammad Rifan, who claimed a deal fell through after intervention by Jakarta, which allegedly ordered they be handed the death penalty.
He said he decided to go pubic given the executions were imminent and the judicial commission, the Indonesian body that safeguards the probity of judges, had yet to complete its investigation into the alleged requests for bribes.
At least one of the judges in the case denied to Fairfax there had been political interference or negotiations about bribes.
Bishop again warned Indonesia that its international standing could be damaged by the executions.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon added his voice to appeals for the convicts to be spared on Saturday.
AFP
