President has no influence on Corby case, says Downer

CANBERRA - Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will have no influence on whether or not Schapelle Corby is convicted on drug smuggling charges, the Australian government says.

The Gold Coast beauty student will find out on Friday whether a Bali court has found her guilty of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia.

Corby, 27, has made a desperate plea to Dr Yudhoyono, vowing she is innocent and begging him to set her free.

She faces a possible life sentence if convicted.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says there is little the Indonesian government can do to help Corby, because of the democratic progress it has made in recent years.

"There is nothing the Indonesian ambassador or the Indonesian government can do about (the verdict)," he told reporters.

Mr Downer said Australia had long argued for Indonesia to have an independent judiciary and a democratic political system.

"The downside of that is you can't ring up the president any more and say release this person, tell the court to do this, tell the court to do that. That doesn't happen any more," he said.

Corby has repeatedly professed her innocence, claiming the drugs were planted in her luggage, possibly by corrupt airport baggage handlers.

When she faces the court on Friday, her financial backer Ron Bakir will be in the room, after apologising to Indonesian prosecutors involved in the case.

He had accused them of offering to take a bribe in return for a lighter sentence.

In an apology written with assistance from the Indonesian embassy, Mr Bakir said he was sorry for claims he made last month, describing them as baseless assertions.

"The Corby defence team and officials of the attorney general's office of the republic of Indonesia have never discussed planned or colluded an undertaking of illegal or unethical measures in alleged efforts to reduce Ms Corby's sentence or to attain her acquittal altogether," Mr Bakir said.

"I therefore wish to apologise to the attorney general's office of the Republic of Indonesia, the government and the people of the republic of Indonesia for this baseless assertion."

Chief Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu accepted the apology.

"As a Balinese and an Indonesian, if somebody offers an apology with an open hand and an open heart I will accept," he told the Nine network.

"We will allow him to come to Bali. To accept an apology is a great thing to do."

Whether Corby is found guilty or not, her friend Alyth McComb says she will never be the same.

"(The experience has) changed her a lot," she told New Idea.

"She's 27 years old with the world at her feet and some gutless person has robbed her of the best time of her life."

Ms McComb fears her friend may never return home, or have the husband and children she so desperately wants.

"It seemed clear the judges' minds were already made up because of how little regard they had for witnesses or any sort of evidence that supported Schapelle," she said.

Corby's Australian lawyer, Robin Tampoe, vowed the legal team would do all it could to have her returned to Australia, even if she was convicted.

She is likely to benefit from a prisoner transfer agreement the Australian government is negotiating with the Indonesians.

Mr Downer says it would apply to 11 Australians who are already in jail in Indonesia.

"It means that Australians who are convicted in Indonesia, presumably after serving some sentence within Indonesia itself, will be able to serve the rest of their sentences in Australian jails," he said.

- AAP