Michelle Leslie case

iveco SG

Like what some of you suspected, there WAS indeed corruption involved. This came from one police officer in Bali. According to him, Leslie paid hefty bribes to be let off the hook. The money was later distributed to the other officers covering the case.

Also the point about her not wearing the tudung despite being a Muslim makes no sense. To wear or not to wear is up to the individual herself.

vito_corleone SG

her bf is some aussie millionaire..got loads of cash to burn..and besides..she's hot!!! Laughing and she's not muslim la she only pretended to be to try to get off the hook.

iveco SG

Finally, "Mia" speaks out.

COVER GIRL'S S'PORE COURT OVER
November 28, 2005

THE Singapore model who kept mum through friend and fellow model Michelle Leslie's claims that she was to blame for a drug bust in Bali has opened up.

'It's so super not true,' Siti Nameera Azman, a former New Paper New Face second runner-up, told an Australian newspaper.

She also questioned Ms Leslie's claim that she is a Muslim.

Ms Nameera, referred to as Mia during Ms Leslie's court hearing, had been keeping a low profile ever since the Australian media revealed her full name on Thursday.

She hasn't been answering The New Paper on Sunday's calls to her handphone. But she has apparently chosen instead to speak to the Australian media. She has been in hiding in Singapore, she told the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH).

In her only interview since the Australian model blamed her for giving her the two Ecstasy pills found in Ms Leslie's handbag, the 22-year-old Singaporean told the SMH:

'I told Michelle how could such a statement be there, like it's super not true.'

However, she said she remained silent to protect her friend.

Ms Leslie, 24, claimed during the trial that Ms Nameera gave her the two Ecstasy tablets that were found in her handbag at the entrance of a Bali dance party.

Yesterday, Ms Nameera told the SMH that Ms Leslie had taken the Ecstasy pills to the dance party so she could give them to two other friends.

But those friends decided at the last minute not to go.

So the models went with three Indonesian socialites that they had been partying with at their luxury hotel.

When they arrived in a resort car, 'I wasn't worried at all when the police began to search,' Ms Nameera said.

'I was really worried when they all started going to her (Ms Leslie).'

The officers found the pills wrapped in a tissue in Ms Leslie's bag.

She was taken from the car to stand with other police officers.

Ms Nameera said she went over and said: 'Babe, don't say anything'.

Two other sources alleged to the paper that Ms Leslie had already taken Ecstasy at the hotel party.

The paper claimed that after Ms Leslie was taken to the police headquarters, she called her drug dealer thinking that he would be able to get her released.

When that failed, she and her lawyer hastily 'concocted' the story that 'Mia' had put the pills in her handbag.

They allegedly persuaded another friend to make a police statement claiming she had seen Ms Nameera put the pills in the bag.

REMAINS DUMBFOUNDED

Ms Nameera 'remains dumbfounded' by the story, reported SMH.

After Ms Leslie was released from jail on 19 Nov, having served her three-month sentence while on remand, she flew straight to Singapore to see Ms Nameera.

According to the SMH, she did not come to confront Ms Nameera, as had been widely assumed.

She came to apologise for spreading the lie.

Ms Nameera said: 'I want my name to be cleared, but anything I can do for Michelle I will try to help her.

'It's only two pills, my God, all this drama.'

Ms Nameera, a Muslim, said she was surprised at Ms Leslie's claim that she had converted to the faith, and amazed that she had worn Muslim attire to court.

She challenged her about it when they met in Singapore on Sunday for coffee, she told the paper.

'I said to Michelle, 'When were you Muslim?' She said, 'It's a long story and I'm so tired'.

'I don't think Michelle would want to wear that jilbab (burqa) thing. It's really sad.'

However, she added: 'The Muslim extremist people should give her a break. She's not trying to kill anyone.'

While the outrage from Ms Leslie's perceived deception may soon die down in Australia, it may be just the beginning for the Singapore model.

FRIENDS SHOCKED

Those who know Ms Nameera in Singapore were shocked when they learnt of her alleged involvement.

Said fashion photographer Eric Ceret: 'I'm shocked.

'I know of the case from the papers, but I didn't know Nameera was involved.'

Mr Ceret was first introduced to Nameera during the Singapore Fashion Week in 2003.

'The first time I saw her, I noticed her vibe and energy.

'I remember thinking that, with the right contacts, she could become a popular model,' he recalled.

Later, he photographed her for a Jean-Paul Gaultier (JPG) campaign.

The Frenchman went on to shoot her at least twice more after that.

'We only met during shoots.

'But each time, she was friendly and I considered her a friend.'

Ms Nameera had joined The New Paper New Face contest in 2000 when she was 18.

During the competition, she preferred to keep to herself, said a fellow New Face finalist.

'She was a lot more polished than the rest of us because she already had some experience on the catwalk,' said the 25-year-old admin assistant.

iveco SG

Mmm, interesting. What a thick plot.

COVER GIRL'S COVER-UP?
Sydney paper alleges $750k bribe campaign and lies bought Aussie model's freedom
She says:
I didn't take Ecstasy or know what pills were
Paper alleges:
She took Ecstasy at party and kept pills for friends

November 28, 2005

SHE lied about being a Muslim, she lied about the Ecstasy, she lied to the court and she lied about her Singaporean friend 'Mia'.

That's the remarkable series of allegations a Sydney newspaper has made against Australian lingerie model Michelle Leslie, who was convicted of using Ecstasy in Bali.

A day after the 24-year-old tearfully appealed for understanding in her first public statement since being deported from Indonesia last week, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) yesterday alleged that the model's desperation to avoid a 15-year jail term for drug possession 'fuelled a stream of lies and deceptions, supplemented by a A$600,000 ($750,000) campaign to buy her freedom'.

The newspaper claimed that the so-called four pillars of Ms Leslie's defence to the charge of Ecstasy possession were all 'concoctions'.

'SHE DID TAKE ECSTASY'

After Ms Leslie was arrested on 20 Aug for having two Ecstasy tablets in her handbag, the model, her lawyers and her advisers maintained in court and in public that:

Her Singaporean model friend 'Mia' gave her the pills
She did not know they contained Ecstasy
She had run out of prescribed pills for a medical condition when she accepted 'Mia's' offer of a replacement
She had never taken Ecstasy.

The SMH reported that other claims that Ms Leslie's defence team had 'spread surreptitiously' to the Australian media also 'appear to be false'.

These were that the Ecstasy belonged to the sons of powerful Indonesians in the car when she was arrested, that they were planted in her bag and that her positive blood test for drugs was faked.

On Thursday, 'Mia' was identified as Singapore model Siti Nameera Azman, 22.

'SHE MADE UP CONVERSION'

At a media conference in Sydney on Friday, Ms Leslie tearfully maintained: 'I am a Muslim'.

After pictures of her arriving in court in a burqa last month sparked a furore, her friend, Ms Norah Cullen, told the Australian media that Ms Leslie had converted to Islam when she was boarding with her Lebanese-descent family 18 months earlier.

But the SMH yesterday quoted sources as saying that 'the Muslim story' was hastily made up in response to the media furore, and that she had in fact worn the burqa on the advice of a Bali jail inmate in a bid to avoid being photographed.

In yesterday's report, Ms Cullen said no religious leader was present at Ms Leslie's ''conversion ceremony', which was conducted in her home and attended only by herself, her parents and Ms Leslie.

It involved Ms Leslie repeating three times that she was a Muslim, Ms Cullen said.

'SHE WAS NOT ON MEDICATION'

Ms Leslie told the Bali court that she was addicted to the prescription medication Ritalin, which she had been taking for some years to treat anxiety and an attention deficit disorder.

Two doctors testified to this.

But the SMH reported that 'several sources in the Leslie camp have confirmed the Ritalin story was a concoction'.

It was apparently a bid to paint Ms Leslie as a regular drug user to both meet the requirements of the lesser drug charge and explain away her positive blood test.

Ms Leslie's father told the media conference on Friday that he had mortgaged his home, exhausted his retirement savings and borrowed money from friends in a frantic bid to help his daughter.

'SHE PAID HUGE BRIBES'

But the SMH claimed that her boyfriend, Mr Scott Sutton, and his millionaire father, Mr Neil Sutton, 'provided much of the A$600,000 spent to bring her home'.

'Some of the money was sent from the Suttons via the drug dealer who had supplied the Ecstasy to Leslie and her friends,' the paper reported.

The paper claimed that more than A$100,000 in bribes were paid by some of Ms Leslie's lawyers, including US$20,000 ($34,000) to the police laboratory in a bid to change the result of the positive blood test. The bid failed.

Another US$20,000 was also offered to the Bali police chief I Made Mangku Pastika to downgrade the charges, but he rebuffed the approach, alleged the paper.

One source told the paper that Mr Sutton, head of a A$220 million car dealership empire in Sydney, sent a senior manager experienced in Indonesia to Bali to help Ms Leslie soon after her arrest.

The manager hired 'several shadowy figures' who claimed they could get her freed immediately, leading the Suttons to book Ms Leslie a plane ticket home, the paper quoted the source as saying.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

According to the paper, Ms Leslie took Ecstasy at a party in a luxury hotel room before heading to the dance party where she was arrested.

It claims to have interviewed two people that Ms Leslie had confided this to.

When the resort-owned car she was in with 'Mia' (Ms Nameera) and three men reached the dance party, the pills were found in Ms Leslie's bag by police conducting a random search.

According to the SMH, another passenger, the son of an Indonesian politician, told the officers who he was and all those not connected to the bag were released.

Ms Leslie was taken to the police headquarters, where she gave the officers the number of the dealer who had supplied her with the drugs, claimed the SMH.

According to the paper, she thought the dealer would be able to arrange her release.

She then called her boyfriend who immediately wired US$20,000 to the dealer.

But her lawyers quickly realised it was not enough. With the assistance of Mr Sutton's father, they set up a slush fund of A$150,000, the SMH alleged.

But once Mr Sutton's wealth become known, the demands escalated.

Sources claimed to the paper that lawyers were asked for US$400,000 to reduce the charge from one with a penalty of 15 years to one that would see her free in three months.

They bargained it down, 'but a large payment was distributed among many of those involved', the paper claimed.

Ms Leslie's legal team strongly denied the SMH's claims in a response yesterday.

Her spokesman, Mr Sean Mulcahy, said the money sent from Australia had been spent on legal bills only, and most of it had come from Ms Leslie's parents.

dragg SG

only 2 tablets i heard. not trafficking right?

fudgester SG

Two tablets may not necessarily amount to trafficking, but it still amounts to illegal possession of illicit drugs.

They can't go easy on her just because she had 'only' two tablets. If ten thousand people had 'only' two ecstasy tablets each, then we're talking about a lot of drugs.

Bottom line is, drugs are bad, drugs are illegal, and the smartest thing to do is to stay away from them, regardless of amount.

euphratis SG

Normal… high life…high entertainment. drinking no long trendy enough. now in thing is drugs…