Mercedes has been Schapelle’s rock through darkest days

MERCEDES Corby booked the first flight she could get from Denpasar to Jakarta.

From the chaotic Jakarta airport, she made her way through the crowds, into a taxi for the congested stop-start journey along Jakarta’s notoriousy gridlocked roads.

Her destination – Indonesia’s Law and Human Rights Ministry. Mercedes was on a mission. It was January 2014 and by this time her sister had been eligible for parole already for 18 months. But despite everyone saying she would get it, there was no official sign-off. At every turn was a new hurdle.

Officials were saying that Corby’s Immigration status was unclear and there was no decision on whether she was required to have a “stay permit” to live in Indonesia while on parole or whether she was exempted. The Law and Human Rights Ministry said it was waiting to get advice from Immigration on the matter. It was taking forever.

Then there was the issue of Corby’s passport. Authorities wanted it. But it couldn’t be produced because it had been destroyed by a fire that had engulfed Kerobokan Jail’s administration block the year before during bloody jail riots.

Being a prisoner, she didn’t have the means to apply for a new one. It was the first time parole had been granted to a foreigner and authorities seemed to be grappling with the paperwork and red tape.

There was no precedent to follow.

Time was dragging on. Month after month. Technically, Corby should be out, but it just wasn’t happening.

Everything else was sorted. The biggest hurdle facing foreigners seeking parole is the need to have an Indonesian family member to act as a parole guarantor, to take responsibility for the parolee and ensure they fulfil all the conditions of parole. Most foreigners can’t get past the first hurdle because they have no family member who is Indonesian. Some foreign prisoners will marry in jail in a bid to secure a guarantor, but authorities see through that pretty quickly.

One of Corby’s cellmates, a European woman, sought to marry a fellow prisoner, but the Parole Board in Bali was on to them and denied her parole.

Corby was lucky. There was no need to marry anyone. Her sister had long been married to an Indonesian and they lived in his family’s traditional Balinese family compound in the heart of Kuta.

It was August 14, 2013, when Mercedes’ Balinese husband, Wayan Widyartha, signed his official guarantor statement. He promised to act as Corby’s parole guarantor, to give the Parole Board in Bali information about her condition and provide guidance and supervision. He also pledged that if she did not fulfil her parole requirements, he would take her to the Parole Board.

Five months later, Corby was still in limbo. But that all changed when Mercedes learnt through a News Corp story that a French prisoner jailed in Jakarta had been quietly granted parole. Despite what officials were saying, Corby was not the first foreigner to get parole.

The Justice Minister had signed off on his parole more than a month ago, on November 28, and he was being released soon.

The Corbys knew him well. Michael Loic Blanc, a convicted drug trafficker, had been caught in Bali and served a large part of his sentence in Kerobokan prison with Corby. His mother Helene Le Tourzey had moved from France to Bali to support him and was a well-known figure around Kerobokan.

Blanc had been arrested in December 1999 at Bali airport with 3.8kg of hashish inside dive tanks he was carrying in his luggage. Sentenced to life in jail, this was later reduced to 20 years and he spent his final time in Jakarta’s Cipinang prison before he was released on parole.

Armed with a copy of Blanc’s signed parole agreement, Mercedes went to Jakarta.

If Blanc already had been granted parole, what was the hold-up in her sister’s case? Mercedes was thrilled for Blanc and wanted the same for Schapelle.

At the Ministry, she showed officials the Blanc paperwork. She told them she was not leaving until she got her sister’s parole documents signed. She would sleep there, in the office if necessary, she told them.

Mercedes had made up her mind. She was so close to getting her little sister out of jail and red tape was not delaying things any further.

The fact that she had a copy of the Blanc documents seemed to encourage action. There was no denying he was about to be freed on parole and therefore a process did exist for granting parole to a foreigner.

Soon after that a convoy of official-looking people arrived and they all went inside for a meeting.

Mercedes sat in the foyer, waiting. It seems her presence had them summoned, but she had no idea what they were

We’d clasp each other’s hands for comfort MERCEDES CORBY