SCHAPELLE CORBY'S SISTER TO SUE FAMILY FRIEND OVER DRUG LIES

Mercedes Corby, the sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby
plans to take legal action against Today Tonight after a family
friend made allegations involving drugs, Australian media reports.

Jodi Power, a friend of the Corby family for more than a decade said
on air that Mercedes had admitted using marijuana and having a friend
in Customs and that she had asked Ms Power if she was prepared to
smuggle drugs to Bali.

Mercedes outraged at Ms Power's accusations, accused Power's of
back-stabbing her.

"I've known about this story for six weeks. I offered to co-operate
with Channel 7 for six weeks and to do an interview," Mercedes said.

"They ignored my emails and phone calls. Then 48 hours before the
story went to air, they apparently tried to contact me. I was away
with my kids but I had been trying to talk to them for six weeks."

"Jodi Power is mentally unstable and any one of my friends who know
her - also her former friends - will attest to it.

However Mercedes did admit she had had "the occasional puff [of
marijuana] as a teenager" but said the rest of the allegations were false.

Ms Power submitted to a lie detector test for the interview, failing
the first one but passing two follow up tests.

Ms Power claimed she failed because she had given false answers to
some personal questions, not to the claims against Mercedes.

Today Tonight said it had made repeated attempts to contact Mercedes
over several days but was unable to reach her.