A Channel Nine employee implored disgraced former NSW Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid to work his Lebanon connections to help secure the release of the 60 Minutes crew jailed in Beirut, according to ABC's 7.30 program.

Lebanese-born Obeid made a number of calls to senior Lebanese politicians after he was approached by a friend at Nine, 7.30 reported on Thursday.

A friend at Channel Nine asked Mr Obeid to lobby for the release of the 60 Minutes crew, 7.30 reported. Photo: Edwina Pickles

Channel Nine told 7.30 the allegation was completely false, saying it had not contacted Mr Obeid directly or indirectly. 

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A spokeswoman for Channel Nine said the network was unable to comment further. 

Presenter Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Benjamin Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment were freed from prison and departed Lebanon on a flight on Wednesday night, local time after the children's father Ali Elamine agreed to drop the charges against the crew and his estranged wife Sally Faulkner.

Reporter Tara Brown Brown, centre, David Ballment, left, and Sally Faulkner, right, have been released from a Beirut jail. Photo: Nine Network

Mr Elamine has repeatedly denied he received any payment from Channel Nine to secure the crew's release.

The network is under added pressure after a bank statement obtained by Fairfax Media showed Channel Nine directly transferred $69,000 to the child abduction firm, Child Abduction Recovery International, who carried out the botched abduction attempt of Lahela, 6 and Noah, 4 on behalf their mother. 

A local source connected to the case said Nine had made a mistake, paying the money into Sally's nominated account without realising it was Whittington's firm.

Bank records relating to the Nine Network's payment. Photo: Supplied

A Nine spokeswoman said: "We can't make any comment as all these matters are part of the review we are conducting."

Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks has launched a full internal review of 60 Minutes' role in the incident, admitting that the free-to-air broadcaster "did become a part of the story and we shouldn't have".

Former A Current Affair boss David Hurley and Nine's general counsel Rachel Launders will also help run the review.

The review will "ascertain what went wrong and why our systems, designed to protect staff, failed to do so in this case. We will task the review with recommending the necessary actions to ensure that none of our colleagues are put in a similar position in the future," Mr Marks wrote in an email to Nine staff.

"This has been an extraordinarily stressful time for the crew and for their families and I want to very publicly acknowledge how much they have been through and thank them for their courage, their perseverance and for the trust they placed in us to resolve events."

Brown and the 60 Minutes crew are expected to arrive back in Australia on Thursday evening.