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Child snatch boss: ‘Nine Network paid me’

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The head of an international ‘Child Recovery Agency’ at the centre of the 60 Minutes Beirut arrests has claimed the Nine Network paid him directly for the failed operation.

Adam Whittington, CEO of Child Abduction Recovery International told The Australian that two payments for the attempted child snatch came from the Nine Network’s accounts department, without using Queensland mother Sally Faulkner as an intermediary.

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If Mr Whittington can convince the court that Nine paid him directly, the network may be liable for the operation.

According to him, Nine deposited two payments, first 40 per cent and then 60 per cent of the alleged $115,000-plus fee.

Mr Whittington, who was jailed in Singapore in 2014 for a similar ‘child recovery’ operation, claims he has the internet banking receipts to prove it.

Australian mother Sally Faulkner and four 60 Minutes crew, including host Tara Brown, were detained by Lebanese police after the failed child ‘recovery’ at a Beirut bus stop.

The children, aged three and five, had been waiting for the bus with their grandmother when the crew attempted to bundle them into a vehicle.

The Australian reported Ms Faulkner’s husband will on Monday request the matter be considered as a child custody battle and not as a kidnapping.

But, Judge Rami Abdullah last week indicated he believed a crime had taken place and wanted to know who had signed off the plan.

Nine has not commented on whether it paid Child Abduction Recovery International directly.

Meanwhile, the partners of the 60 Minutes crew have released a joint statement saying they are suffering through “a living nightmare”.

The minimum jail sentence for kidnapping in Lebanon is three years.

The Beirut hearing will return to court on Monday.

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