No answers over people smuggler payment claims

Department of Immigration and Border Protection Secretary Michael Pezzullo (L) and Operation Sovereign Borders Commander Major General Andrew Bottrell Source: AAP

A Senate inquiry has heard Australian officials may have breached international and domestic laws if claims they paid people smugglers to return a boat of asylum seekers to Indonesia are true. Legal experts also raised concern the federal government's handling of the matter may be putting Customs officials at risk in foreign legal jurisdictions.

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