CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MONDAY - DARWIN
The news about the arrest of Stringer and the death of O’Shea broke in the afternoon. The N.T. Police Chief’s office was being hounded by the media. In view of his involvement in the case, Assistant Commissioner Popolo was asked to give a press conference. He agreed reluctantly as his dislike of the media was only slightly lower than that of his hatred of criminals. The press conference was held in the Board Room at Police Headquarters in Darwin and was packed by journalists and photographers. Popolo was uncomfortable speaking to the media and resolved to keep it short.
He walked into the room and the hubbub subsided as his imposing presence filled the room. He stood on the dais and gave a concise account of the arrest of Stringer, alias Anstey, for the murder of Barry Buckstone. Stringer had confessed to the hit-run attack on Buckstone and had implicated O’Shea. Police had raided O’Shea’s home but found him dead, possibly from a drug overdose. They had also confiscated a number of computers and documents found at the homes of Stringer and O’Shea as well as at the office at the Land Council and were analysing these for evidence of their complicity in the crime. He finished up by circulating a press statement which they could use for their media outlets. He then asked for questions.
A barrage of questions followed seeking details of the arrest of Stringer and the apparent suicide of O’Shea. After appealing for order, Popolo took the questions one by one, keeping his answers to known facts. The reporter from the National raised his hand and asked whether the murder of Barry Buckstone was connected to the allegations of corruption in regard to the development of the Jabiru mine.
Popolo indicated that investigations were proceeding into the allegations but it was too early to make any conclusions. He took two more questions and walked out of the conference room.
The National’s representative phoned Helen Kwang immediately and outlined the main points of Popolo’s conference and sent her a copy of his statement.
MONDAY AFTERNOON - CANBERRA
Helen was finishing off her article for the next day’s edition of the National. She phoned AFP Commissioner Fisher and questioned him about his knowledge of the corruption inside the Land Council. He suggested they meet privately in an hour at a coffee shop at the Civic Centre in Canberra. She found the café and saw him sitting discreetly in the back corner. After exchanging greetings, Fisher stated
“I read your article in the National Helen. This discussion has got to be off-the-record Helen. We’re talking about some sensitive matters here some of which could have serious implications for the Government. Tell me what you’ve got.”
“We’ve got a copy of a letter demonstrating that a trust company owned by O’Shea received bribes so that the Land Council would remove its opposition to the Jabiru mine. We intend to publish the story tomorrow morning.”
“How did you get hold of this letter and are you sure of its authenticity?”
“I can’t tell you where I got it from but it’s authentic all right. Here read it.”
She passed a copy of the letter over. Fisher read it carefully and looked up.
“You got this from Jake Stafford didn’t you?”
“I told you I can’t reveal my sources but you can keep the copy if you want. We’ve also obtained copies of transactions from the Bank of Bahamas which shows payments of $2.25 million made to O’Shea’s trust company. You can have them as well.” Helen handed over copies of lists of transactions.
“This looks like evidence of a serious case of bribery and provides a motive for the killing of Barry Buckstone. I’ll pursue it.” Fisher placed the papers in his briefcase.
She went on to outline details of the contract to supply rare earths to the Japanese which the National was proposing to publish over the next few days. She left out the part about the possible involvement of the Prime Minister. He listened attentively.
“Personally I have no problem you publishing that as it’s a contract between private companies. If it were a confidential government contract you would be in legal trouble if you released it. However, I suspect it won’t go down well with some high level ministers and officials as well as some powerful business people. I’d say the Jabiru mine is doomed once these disclosures are made and some people will be facing criminal charges. I’m sure the high-ups will try to suppress the story.”
They finished their coffee and left the café. Helen went back to her office and recounted the discussion with her Editor-in-Chief, Colin Black.
Black said “That’s good work Helen. There is political pressure on us from the very top level not to publish any of this with veiled threats to sue us and of withdrawal of government advertising from the National if we do publish. I’ve talked to the Managing Editor and as long as we stick to the facts we’ve got the green light. So let’s go with it.”
“Thanks Col. It’s going to be an interesting couple of days.”
Helen strode back to her office, sat down at her computer and went to work on her article.
MONDAY EVENING - SYDNEY
Jake let himself into his room at the Novotel hotel in Sydney, threw his coat and tie onto a chair and pulled out a beer from the mini-bar. He’d flown to Sydney the night before and his day had been filled with appointments with companies and food and agricultural industry groups interested in hearing about the new free trade provisions of the treaty with Japan. He slumped onto the queen sized bed and sipped a beer while looking out the window at the bustling Darling Harbour. He turned on the television to watch the national seven o’clock news. His attention was drawn to the second item on the newscast which was a televised excerpt of Sam Popolo’s press conference providing details of the arrest of Stringer for the murder of Barry Buckstone as well as Bert O’Shea’s apparent suicide. A reporter outside the Darwin Police Station suggested Buckstone had been murdered because he was about to blow the whistle on corruption by O’Shea, the President of the Kakadu Land Council in regard to the Jabiru uranium mine. Jake watched the rest of the news but there was no other information on the Buckstone murder.
Jake rested for an hour, left the hotel and found a seafood restaurant along the harbour. He ordered a bottle of white wine and relaxed over a plate of delicious seafood while watching people strolling around the harbour front. Back in his hotel room, he called Shoni to let her know he planned to be in Tokyo on the following Monday. Since her return to Japan, Shoni had been staying with her parents before looking for a job. After all they had been through, they found it easy to talk to each other and Shoni was anxious to learn about developments with Barry Buckstone’s murder. She promised to meet Jake on his arrival at Narita airport.
Jake called his father to bring him up to date on the news of O’Shea’s death and suggested he buy a copy of the National first thing in the morning. Finally he rang his sister Melanie to let her know he would be in Melbourne for the weekend and hoped to catch up. She insisted he stay with her at her family home and that his nieces were looking forward to seeing him.
Jake watched television in bed before nodding off to sleep.