‘Dangerous precedent’: Victoria seeks to block Gobbo’s $30m compensation demands

The state government will move to protect itself and Victoria Police from multimillion-dollar compensation claims connected to Nicola Gobbo, the barrister turned police informer.

Under proposed legislation to be put to parliament this week, the government, Victoria Police and individual officers won’t be able to be sued for damages in relation to cases disrupted by the Lawyer X scandal.

Former lawyer and police informer Nicola Gobbo.Credit: ABC

This includes those found to have been wrongfully imprisoned and Gobbo, who received a $2.88 million settlement from Victoria Police in a 2010 lawsuit. She is suing the force again, this time for up to $30 million in compensation. Her case is due in court next month.

The legal change would also stop any proposed compensation claims involving murdered lawyer Joe Acquaro, who provided information to police about former clients but was not a registered police informer.

Acquaro was shot dead in East Brunswick on March 15, 2016.

Despite the government admitting the Lawyer X scandal was an “appalling” chapter of police informer misuse, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said it was time to “ensure we limit expending of further resources”.

“Enough is enough. It is time to end this dark chapter in our legal history for the benefit of taxpayers,” Symes said.

The State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Bill, due to be introduced to parliament on Tuesday, is expected to receive fierce opposition from human rights lawyers.

Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns, SC, said the bill “sets a dangerous precedent”.

“If someone is wrongfully convicted, of course they should be entitled to sue for damages,” he said. “Each case deserves to be judged on its merits, and this proposed law is grossly unfair.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes says it’s time Victoria limits its expenses over the Lawyer X scandal.Credit: Jason South

“It also sends the wrong message about police accountability.”

If the proposed law passes parliament, it would mean no Victoria Police officer would ever face criminal charges over the unlawful decision to use Gobbo as a secret informer, and they would also be protected from civil proceedings.

The Gobbo saga is considered one of the darkest chapters in Victorian legal history and resulted in a royal commission. The government introduced 49 of the commission’s 55 recommendations at a cost of more than $200 million.

Gobbo was a barrister representing some of Victoria’s most notorious gangsters when she became a police informer three times – in 1995, 1999 and 2005.

Faruk Orman outside court in 2019 after his conviction was quashed.Credit: Eddie Jim

Two criminal convictions have already been overturned because of Gobbo’s role as an informer, and a third case – that of drug boss Tony Mokbel – is currently before the appeals court.

Faruk Orman was convicted of murdering gunman Victor Peirce, who was shot dead in his parked car in Port Melbourne in 2002. Orman served 12 years before his conviction was quashed in 2019 because of Gobbo’s role as a double agent.

The Court of Appeal found Orman was subjected to “a substantial miscarriage of justice” and his right to a fair trial subverted by conduct that “went to the very foundations of the system of criminal trial”.

Gobbo acted as Orman’s lawyer after he was charged, but she was also working for police at the time and encouraged a key gangland turncoat to become a witness against her own client.

Tony Mokbel and Gobbo in the early 2000s. Mokbel is appealing against his convictions given Gobbo’s involvement in his case.Credit: Nine News

Orman has already lodged a civil case in the Supreme Court against Victoria Police for aggravated and exemplary damages, understood to be more than $10 million.

Orman’s lawyers accuse police of conducting a malicious prosecution of their client, false imprisonment, misconduct in public office and breach of duty of care.

Victoria Police has denied any claims of misconduct in a defence filing and has argued the case should be struck out. It is yet to be determined.

In 2020, the Court of Appeal quashed Zlate Cvetanovski’s conviction for serious drug offences on the grounds Gobbo persuaded a witness to give evidence against him. Police had not disclosed they had paid the witness. Cvetanovski served 11 years.

Cvetanovski has also launched a damages claim against the state, claiming police encouraged Gobbo in an “egregious breach” of her duties and that he suffered wrongful deprivation of liberty, psychiatric injury and loss of income as a result.

Symes, the attorney-general, said: “We haven’t shied away from confronting the difficult truths that arose from the royal commission. At the same time, we acted to ensure events that led to it will never happen again.

“We are taking steps to protect Victorians being burdened from the costs of further spending on these matters so we can continue investing in the things that Victorian families rely on.”

Symes said the bill would only stop civil actions. Actions by Gobbo’s clients attempting to have their criminal convictions overturned would continue.

Mokbel has argued that his decision to plead guilty to drug-trafficking charges should be set aside because Gobbo’s involvement tainted the case against him.

A further six convicted drug traffickers have lodged Gobbo-based appeals.

The office of the special investigator – set up in 2021 to build criminal cases against the Victoria Police officers who used Gobbo as an informer – was disbanded without any charges being laid after $120 million and years of investigations.

John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday.