T

he Denpasar District Court held its first extradition hearing Wednesday in the case of Australian national Timothy Geoffrey Lee, suspected of drug trafficking and money laundering.

Presiding judge Daniel Palitin said the court would only examined Lee’s documents and not bring him up on charges for his alleged involvement in the case.

“The court will not try the case and will not determine whether the suspect is guilty, but will only decide on whether to extradite him to Australia,” he said.

Prosecutor Ida Bagus Argita Candra said the extradition of the 44-year-old, who was wanted by the Australian Federal Police since 2008, had been requested by Australia.

He told the court all the requirements for the extradition had been met, and asked that the request be approved.

Should the district court grant the request to extradite Lee, the case will then pass to the Attorney General’s Office for submission to the President for approval before the Indonesian government can hand Lee over to Australian authorities.

The next hearing will take place on Feb. 22.

Lee’s lawyer, Erwin Siregar, said he hoped the extradition would be approved as soon as possible so that his client would be able to undergo due legal process in Australia.

He added the extradition process usually took between six months and a year, and said he would do all he could to try and speed it up.

Erwin said he had also moved for voluntary deportation for his client, given that this option would be far simpler than extradition.

However, the voluntary deportation cannot be carried out while the Australian government’s extradition request is still pending.

Erwin said he had asked the Australian government to annul the extradition request, and was still waiting for a response.

Bali Police began looking for Lee after receiving a notice from the Australian Federal Police last November.
They arrested Lee on Jan. 9 this year in Kuta, Denpasar.

The federal police allege Lee had trafficked drugs and laundered money.

In its notice to the Bali Police, the federal police said Lee had left Melbourne for Denpasar in July 2006.

In the same month, the federal police seized 1 kilogram of cocaine, 44 kilograms of MDMA in tablet and powder form, 45 liters of MDMA solution, and lab equipment for extracting MDMA from the solution and compressing it into tablet form.

Bali Police allege Lee is in breach of the 1985 narcotics law after bringing into the country a significant quantity of methamphetamine precursor and laundered money.

Police also believe Lee is part of a drug syndicate, citing the inordinately large amount of prohibited drugs that pointed to commercial purposes.