An Australian official told the Indonesian crew of an asylum seeker boat not to let their 65 passengers die, before turning them away with large cash payments, a court has heard.
The man who was captain of the boat controversially turned back in May, Yohanis Humiang, fronted a court in Rote on Tuesday.
Yohanis told the court the Australian official, who introduced himself as Agus and doled out the cash, told them it was "business capital".
He accepted his share, $US6000 ($A8289) because he needed it.
"On the way from Ashmore Reef to Rote, the two boats carrying the immigrants were escorted by an Australian Navy ship," he said.
"Yes, the Australian officer did mention not to let those immigrants die.
"The Australian officer told me to take care the safety of those immigrants during the journey from Ashmore Reef to Rote Island. That's all what they said."
The man from North Sulawesi was among six people who apparently shared the $US32,000 they received from the officer.
He cried as he recalled wanting to run from the law on reaching Indonesia's Landu Island.
"I regret this because I remember my only child and my wife," he said. "The punishment could be more than five years."
The men are charged with a people-smuggling offence carrying a minimum five years' and maximum 15 years' jail.
Yohanis says he accepted the task on the promise of 150 million rupiah ($A15,000) on delivering the asylum seekers to New Zealand.
The offer came from a man known as Armen Yohanis, who remains at large.
Outside court, Yohanis told reporters the one people smuggling "recruiter" arrested, Sri Lankan Vishvanathan Thineskumar, alias Kugan, was put in the same cell as him and the five other men.
He had promised each of them 20 million rupiah if they didn't name him to police.
"They chose not to accept his money because we've been betrayed, deceived by this network of immigrants," he said.
"I heard that he's been punished before, in 2007, that he should've been deported from Indonesia, but he always got away."
Kugan's trial continues on Wednesday.
Yohanis claims the network mastermind was a Sri Lankan serving time in Cibinong Prison, West Java, who controlled operations from his cell by phone.
