the legal defence of Schapelle Corby. Bakir retained the services of the Australian law firm Hoolihans to "Investigate the claim and gather evidence, provide advice in respect of the claim, attend to all procedures necessary for the disclosure by Australian or other bodies of information relevant to the defence, including attendance at conferences with representatives of such bodies, appearing before the media or presenting press releases which may assist the matter, issue Court proceedings if necessary, assist in attending to all pre-trial preparation, engage counsel and other experts, attend at trial as necessary and attend to all such other matters as required." Bakir claims to have no relationship to Corby other than being from the same city. He reportedly decided to help fund Corby's defence because he believed that a miscarriage of justice could occur if she were not properly represented. He pledged A$100,000 towards the A$1,000,000 reward fund, but the full reward was never raised. Before the prosecution announced their sentencing recommendation, Bakir accused the prosecution team (chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu) of seeking a bribe to reduce the requested sentence. The prosecution team and the Indonesian government vehemently denied that this had occurred. Bakir quickly issued a written apology to Indonesian authorities for his statements. After her sentencing, Corby sacked her main Indonesian defence lawyer, Lily Lubis, and Indonesian case co-ordinator Vasu Rasiah in July 2005, when Australian lawyer Mark Trowell QC told the media that Rasiah had asked him to request A$500,000 from the Australian government, money meant to bribe the judges of the appeal court. Bakir registered a company titled Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd, stating that he wanted to protect her name from people who wanted to exploit it. Some raised doubts as to his motives, although Schapelle's cousin, Melissa Younger, told the media that his support was genuine. In June 2005, Bakir formally ended his involvement in Schapelle's defence, stating that he had done everything in his power to help her, including contributing more than $200,000 to her campaign. By 22 July 2005, Bakir had deregistered both Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd and the schapellecorby.com.au website. Philanthropy Bakir is known for his philanthropy having donated hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to the disadvantaged and various charity organisations. In 2016 he donated more than $100,000.00 to the Big Plates Little Mates Cancer Foundation; $20,000.00 to the MS Foundation; and $25,000 to the Salvation Army.