balinews

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Feb 14, 2010
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Bali is renowned for its golden beaches and smiling locals, but a group of Melbourne men have been deeply traumatised by a violent encounter with corrupt police and private security guards on the tropical island that attracts thousands of Australians every week.

The 16 men flew to Bali for the buck's weekend of marketing consultant and former model, Mark Ipaviz, and ended up being pistol-whipped, Tasered and forced to pay a bribe of about $25,000 to avoid trumped-up charges and threats of a 10-year prison sentence.

The incident is expected to escalate concerns about the safety of Australians visiting Bali, which has already experienced a tourism backlash following the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran for drug trafficking.
Mark Ipaviz with Nick Russian and Simon Phan.

The group included prominent nightclub owner Nick Russian, several former models, celebrity hairdresser Joey Scandizzo, and other mates such as Simon Phan and Dan Beckwith, and some who grew up with Mr Ipaviz on the Mornington Peninsula.

None of the men contacted by Fairfax Media were willing to talk publicly about their treatment by Balinese police or security staff. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of the allegations, but also declined to comment.

Mr Ipaviz released a short statement, but refused to respond to questions.

"I hope you can appreciate that I have chosen not to comment due to my concern for other Australians and foreigners in similar situations of wrongful arrest who may have to deal with overseas authorities less responsible and less ethical than theirs in their own country.

"An article of this nature could potentially inflame such situations internationally and I would prefer not to be responsible for that," Mr Ipaviz said.


Melbourne men pistol-whipped, Tasered and extorted in Bali
 

ronb

Well-Known Member
Aug 14, 2007
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Ubud, Bali
two men were dispatched to withdraw about 250 million Indonesian rupiah (more than $25,000) on behalf of the group from several different automatic teller machines in Kuta and Seminyak.

These 2 guys would have to make over 80 withrawals (since the max is usually 3 million or less) and negotiate daily limits on the cards they were using. Is this report credible?
 

Steve Rossell

Member
Apr 18, 2015
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This report certainly doesn't seem credible to me ronb. The way that the story was written the co-authors are irresponsible at best as journalists. "Corrupt police", "pistol whipped", "death threat", all unsubstantiated by any in attendance that were contacted for comment who would not do so publicly. Something smells here. A bunch of Aussie blokes, one of whom is a Melbourne night club entrepreneur, on a bucks trip winding up with a stripper? Well, I reckon there would be a fair chance that they might have had a collective skin full by the time whatever happened, happened. If I was extorted of $25,000AUS back in February '15, I wouldn't wait till 4 months later to make a noise about it.
 

DenpasarHouse

Active Member
Aug 13, 2013
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I reckon the journalists have gotten confused with all the zeros used with rupiah denominations and have accidentally added a zero before calculating the rate in Aussie dollars. No way you can get AUD$25,000 out of Indonesian ATMs. It was probably only AUS$2,500.

I can't say they were wrong to pay up though. Look what happened to that guy who got caught smoking a 1 single joint.

I like to console myself by imagining that they really did do something illegal, and in a way, they were lucky they could bribe there way out. When the police start doing this to absolutely 100% innocent foreigners, it might be time for me to move back to Australia.
 

spicyayam

Well-Known Member
Jan 12, 2009
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I agree, something weird about the story. What do they mean "talk publicly" about the incident? Isn't a national newspaper public enough.

the police arrived and greeted the guards with a hug
A handshake maybe but a hug?

And look at all the quotes, "said another source." "a source said."


 

Fred2

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2010
1,182
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Surabaya/Australia
She was negotiating with two of Mark's mates and made it clear that we should not call the consulate.
May be they were not Australian citizens but the story looks better if they were?
I hope they stick to there story & don't go back to Bali
 

davita

Well-Known Member
Mar 13, 2012
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I agree with those that said the story is suspect....

1. RonB is correct...they got that amount of money from an ATM in that time-scale?
2. The event was 26 Feb....but only reported yesterday!
3. I smsd a senior police officer I know who told me only 5% of Bali police are Muslim...and they were on the raid!
4. He also said very few Bali police are trained on Tazers...and those specialists were also on the raid!
 

SusanSydney

Member
Feb 8, 2015
63
2
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I was shocked to read this article in the Herald the other day - it is not up to usual SMH journalistic standards.

I wonder if it all is connected with the Nightclub Owner's stated ambition to get a reality TV program up and running based on his clubs?

At least he was trying to get enough publicity to support the selling of a pilot episode last August but there's been nothing since then so I'm thinking this would be a good publicity stunt to get attention?

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