Seven paid legal fees for witness in Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial until arrangement was revealed in court

Request for reimbursement from Kerry Stokes's private company not made until after court told of network's legal financing

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The Seven Network was paying the legal fees of several SAS witnesses for Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation trial until one of them revealed the payments in the federal court, contradicting Seven's claim last week that the former soldier's evidence about the source of the payments was not correct".

When the former SAS soldier, known as Person 5, told the court last week that his solicitor and barrister are being paid for by Seven, the network said another arm of the empire owned by Seven West Media chair, Kerry Stokes, was footing the bill.

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