Video footage of Australian officials confirming plans to investigate Amber Heard for alleged perjury has resurfaced on TikTok.
Australia's Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) told Newsweek in May that investigations were ongoing over allegations that Heard lied under oath with regards to taking her pet dogs into the country back in May 2015.
In 2016, Heard—who was then married to Johnny Depp—entered a court battle with local authorities for taking the two terriers, Pistol and Boo, into Australia without declaring them. The trial concluded with Heard avoiding conviction.
Heard had been charged with making a false statement on her immigration card. The Magic Mike XXL star checked "no" to the question of importing anything into the country that ought to have been declared.
A TikTok video was this week posted of a Senate meeting of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, which took place on October 21, 2020, and showed confirmation of an investigation.
In the clip, Peta Lane, then listed as first assistant secretary of the Compliance Division, said: "There was a question this morning in relation to Amber Heard. I can confirm that the department is investigating that matter.
"There was evidence presented in the London court case which suggested false
statements were provided in the court case in Australia in 2016, so we are investigating that."
The London court case in question was regarding the libel case Depp brought against British tabloid The Sun, which had called the Pirates of the Caribbean star a "wife-beater," in reference to Heard's allegations of domestic violence.
While Depp had repeatedly denied ever having been violent to Heard during the three-week trial in London, a judge found that The Sun's claims that the Kentucky-born actor was abusive to Heard were "substantially true."
In the TikTok video shared this week, Senator Tony Sheldon, of the Australian Labor Party, asked about the timeline of the perjury investigation before sharing why the London case was relevant to possible perjury charges.
The politician said: "As I understand it, the former estate manager of Johnny Depp, Kevin Murphy, said in a witness statement that he told Heard by email, telephone and in person that she could not take the dogs to Australia because the relevant paperwork and permits were not complete and the required 10-day quarantine arrangements had not been put in place.
"Murphy continued, 'Ms. Heard later told the court in Australia that I had told her it was fine to bring the dogs into Australia. That is false and I never told her this.'"
As the clip came to a close, Lane then said: "We understand that to be the evidence provided in the London court case. Giving false testimony is an offence under the Crimes Act, so that is what we are now investigating."
The TikTok video has been viewed more than 400,000 times.
At the time of the trial, Heard said it was a misunderstanding as she had assumed her husband's assistants had arranged the terriers' passage into the country, where Depp had been shooting Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
In a taped apology in 2016, Heard said she was "truly sorry" for not declaring her dogs when she entered Australia—which is known for its strict quarantine laws. Foreign pets must be quarantined for 10 days when first brought into the country.
The perjury investigation was initially revealed in October 2021, with a representative for DAWE telling E! News that "the department is seeking to obtain witness statements and once obtained, the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions will consider whether the evidence is sufficient to warrant pursuance of the matter."
An attorney for Heard criticized the investigation, telling E! News in 2021: "It is truly inconceivable, and we are confident it is not true, that either the Australian Government, or the FBI, would embrace a policy of further pursuing and victimizing a person who has already been adjudicated to be the victim of domestic violence."
Heard pleaded guilty in court but magistrate Bernadette Callaghan gave the actor, accompanied to the Queensland hearing by Depp, a $1,000 one-month good behavior bond with no recorded conviction.
She had previously avoided two charges for illegal importation, and Depp and Heard apologized in a video shown in court at the time. However, Depp later mocked the video while promoting one of his films in the U.K. in 2016.
A DAWE representative told Newsweek in May that the department was continuing to look into "allegations of perjury by Ms. Heard during court proceedings for the 2015 illegal importation of (her) two dogs into Australia."
In April, Heard embarked on a six-week court battle with Depp, who had filed a $50 million lawsuit against her over her 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post, in which she said she was a domestic abuse survivor.
During proceedings, Heard and Depp hurled a series of accusations at one another, including allegations of domestic violence—claims that each star vehemently denied during their respective testimonies.
On June 1, the jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, after finding Heard's claim to be false and defamatory. The judge adjusted the punitive damages to $350,000, as Virginia law limits the value of punitive damages available.
Heard, who had countersued for $100 million, was awarded $2 million after it was found that Depp's former attorney, Adam Waldman, had made defamatory comments about her.
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Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
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