Julian Assange's Trip Back Cost AU$883,958
![Assange is expected to be sentenced to 62 months in prison, with credit for the five years he has served in prison in Britain](https://d.ibtimes.com.au/en/full/1851597/assange-expected-sentenced-62-months-prison-credit-five-years-he-has-served-prison.jpg?w=736&f=caca0952299b401eb089c71d378e35aa)
Australia's tax payers will have to pay about AU$100,000 towards Julian Assange's trip back home, while the Germany-based Wau Holland Foundation has agreed to reimburse the remaining expenses for the charter flight costing AU$883,958.
Based on the documents tabled in the Senate Friday, the tax payer will have to foot the bill amounting to AU$100,000 for the travel expenses of Australia's United States Ambassador, Kevin Rudd, U.K. High Commissioner Stephen Smith, and "other associated Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade costs," SBS News reported.
While Smith's airfares will cost the taxpayer AU$17,807.39, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade costs would be AU$55,402.51, and Rudd's boarding passes cost tallied AU$29,267.73, reported News.com.
The WikiLeaks founder, who was imprisoned in London, arrived back in Australia after 12 years. He was released on pleading guilty to a U.S. espionage criminal charge in a court in Saipan, a US territory in the western Pacific.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong stated one of the condition for granting bail to Assange was that Smith would accompany him to Saipan court.
However, Liberal Party MP and government waste reduction spokesman James Stevens criticized the "exorbitant cost in bringing back Assange in such lavish style," when his "predicament wasn't extraordinary."
"Being escorted by two of our most senior diplomats on chartered flights has cost nearly a million dollars – all to facilitate pleading guilty to spying against our closest ally," Stevens said.
Holland Foundation, which has connections with WikiLeaks will pay the bill by August end. "The Australian government facilitated all arrangements for the flight following an agreement for the costs to be reimbursed by the Wau Holland Foundation," Wong said.
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