Ken Jones to return from UK to front Lawyer X royal commission
The Lawyer X royal commission has confirmed former deputy commissioner Sir Ken Jones will fly back to Melbourne within weeks to give evidence on how Victoria Police tried to cover up using Nicola Gobbo as an informer.
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Former top cop Sir Ken Jones is set to return to Melbourne to blow the lid on how Victoria Police sought to cover up its use of barrister Nicola Gobbo as an informer.
The one-time deputy commissioner was pushed out of the force in 2011 after clashing with his then-boss Simon Overland over police tactics — including the use of Gobbo to inform on her clients.
The Lawyer X royal commission on Wednesday confirmed Sir Ken — a decorated former chief constable of Sussex who returned to the UK after the 2011 fallout — would fly back here within weeks to give evidence.
In an explosive climax to the commission, he will be joined by several of the most powerful figures in Victoria Police over the past two decades.
Current Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and former chiefs Christine Nixon — who was in charge during Gobbo’s most prolific informing period, between 2005 and 2009 — and Mr Overland are also scheduled to take the stand before December 20.
Mr Overland on Wednesday announced he was stepping away from his highly paid role as chief executive of Whittlesea Council to concentrate on his health.
Sir Ken is expected to provide a detailed account of the culture of Victoria Police command at a turbulent time. It is believed he raised concerns about using Gobbo as a “human source’’, as he considered it an incompetent strategy.
He is also understood to have challenged the cover-up of the tactic, which he is understood to have found after the prison murder of gangland kingpin Carl Williams in 2010.
His fractured relationship with Mr Overland became a public spat in 2011. At that time, Sir Ken’s phone was tapped by the now-defunct Office of Police Integrity after Mr Overland accused Sir Ken of leaking information to undermine him.
The affidavits provided by police to gain approval to tap the phones of several officers opposed to Mr Overland could be presented to the commission.
Mr Overland, Mr Ashton and Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius will also be grilled by the commission about the tactics used by the force during joint probes with the Office of Police Integrity into alleged police involvement in gangland murders.
Mr Ashton was a deputy director at the OPI from 2004 to 2009, when he joined Victoria Police.
He and former Australian Federal Police colleagues Mr Overland and Mr Cornelius sat on the joint steering committees for the two murder probes.
Police poured millions of dollars into failed attempts to connect corrupt police with the 2004 executions of witness Terence Hodson and his wife Christine. and the 2003 murder of “vampire’’ gigolo Shane Chartres-Abbott.
Both investigations involved Gobbo in helping to unearth the alleged police involvement in the killings.
The commission on Wednesday night said it would begin examining “leadership oversight’’ of the source development unit that handled Gobbo, starting today, with officers Dean McWhirter and Superintendent John O’Connor in the witness box. Mr Overland is also considered a central figure in overseeing Gobbo’s use as an informer.
Others due to take the stand in the coming weeks include the force’s executive director of legal services, Finn McRae.
It has been speculated Mr McRae’s statement reveals who knew what, and when.
The Herald Sun revealed on Monday that former Labor police minister Bob Cameron personally signed off on a $2.8 million taxpayer-funded settlement with Gobbo after receiving a briefing note from police command.
Gobbo sued for compensation over the police decision — approved by Mr Overland, Mr Ashton and Mr Cornelius — to make her a witness in the Hodson murder investigation, claiming it had ruined her legal career and threatened her health and safety.
Stepping away from Whittlesea Council on Wednesday, Mr Overland blamed deteriorating relationships with colleagues.
“The situation has been very difficult now for two years, but with recent changes on council, I now regrettably find my own health and safety significantly affected and accordingly, as of now, I am taking related leave,” he said.
It comes just days before Mr Overland is due to take the stand at the Lawyer X royal commission.
“Since my appointment as CEO, health, safety and wellbeing for my staff at the City of Whittlesea has been a major focus, while meeting the needs of our community,” he wrote in a statement posted on the council’s website.
“However, interactions between councillors, and between some councillors and my staff, is not in keeping with contemporary requirements to ensure a safe and healthy workplace for all.
“Despite many attempts over the past two years, I have been unsuccessful in achieving improvement here, and in many respects the behaviours of some councillors have deteriorated, therefore increasing the risks to health and wellbeing.
A Whittlesea councillor told the Herald Sun Mr Overland appeared to be “good as gold’’ at a meeting on Tuesday night.
Another councillor, Cr Sam Alessi, described working conditions at Whittlesea Council as “difficult” and called for the Minister of Local Government to take immediate action.
The councillor, who has been in his role since 1997, said councillors would “fish for information” about operational matters and even “intimidate” each other during council meetings.
“It’s extremely disappointing it has come to this,” he said.
“Senior staff have been intimidated, cross-examined during meetings and the situation has progressively deteriorated.
“Officers would ask themselves what councillors would think about a report, before they go and write it — they should be getting free and fearless advice, not tailored.
“Somebody must guide this council because right now it is not functional and I fear for what will happen to this council if we go backwards, and what this will mean for our residents and the municipality.”
Mr Overland, who was appointed as chief executive of the council in July 2017, was unsure about the timing of his return. Whittlesea Council will be led by the executive leadership team in the meantime.
Mr Overland was Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police from 2009 to 2011, and was the public face of the fight to bring the gangland war between Carl Williams and other underworld figures to an end.
He is due to give evidence early next month at the Lawyer X royal commission into Victoria Police’s handling of human sources.
His evidence will be based on an official statement which he has already made, but is currently being kept under wraps.
The Herald Sun understands Mr Overland will be called to give evidence in a matter of weeks, and that he intends to appear.
Mr Overland’s statement was received by the commission several weeks ago, and it also expects him to appear to give evidence.
But staff were unaware of Mr Overland’s health issues when contacted on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants said: “The commission has not received any information to indicate that Mr Overland will not be able to give evidence to the royal commission”.
Gobbo, conversely, remains a wildcard as to whether she will testify, claiming her health is a major impediment.
The lawyer-turned-informer has given evidence to the commission over the phone, but has not given sworn evidence or provided a signed statement.
A directions hearing on November 26 will shed more light on whether she will provide sworn evidence.
OVERLAND’S ROLE IN LAWYER X SCANDAL
Mr Overland oversaw lawyer Nicola Gobbo’s informing in his previous role as deputy commissioner, particularly in relation to her role in helping capture Tony Mokbel, the infamous drug lord who fled to Greece in 2007.
He was also part of the decision to make Gobbo a witness in a murder investigation targeting alleged corrupt officer Paul Dale.
Gobbo had worn a wire to tape Dale at a coffee meeting in December 2008, which led police to charge him with commissioning the murder of police informer Terence Hodson.
Williams and Gobbo had provided statements against him and co accused Rodney Collins, also charged with the Hodson murders.
But the case collapsed after Carl Williams was killed.
Gobbo then launched a writ against the state, Mr Overland and his predecessor, Christine Nixon, claiming the police decision to make her a witness had ruined her legal career and threatened her health and safety.
The Herald Sun this week revealed that a former Labor minister Bob Cameron personally signed off on the $2.8 million taxpayer-funded settlement with Gobbo.
Mr Cameron — police minister between 2006 and 2010 in the Bracks and Brumby governments — authorised the massive payout to Gobbo shortly before the November 2010 election.
The bombshell was the first time the scandal had extended beyond police and legal circles into the political realm and raises questions about who in the Brumby government knew about her secret role as a registered informer.
Labor sources said it was not clear whether Mr Cameron was briefed on Gobbo’s informer status before approving the settlement, but they believe it is likely he was.
It is believed the minister received a briefing note from police command on Gobbo.
When contacted by the Herald Sun, Mr Cameron said he did not comment on “matters of the past”.
Many of Gobbo’s gangland clients, including Mokbel and Rob Karam, have launched legal action to win freedom, claiming their cases were tainted by her double role, while Faruk Orman, who was jailed for the 2002 murder of underworld figure Victor Peirce, walked free in July.
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LABOR SIGNED OFF ON GOBBO MONEY
OVERLAND: PAY DOUBLE OR SACK ME
Overland established the Purana Taskforce, which was set up to investigate a wave of underworld murders in the early-2000s and benefited from significant intelligence from Gobbo.
The commission has that officers raised concerns to their superiors about Gobbo’s use as an informer in emails, reports, briefings and meetings.
An eight-point analysis was even presented to senior officers, including Mr Overland, warning the force could be on track for a royal commission and convictions might be at risk.
The scandal erupted after the Herald Sun revealed in 2014 that police had recruited Gobbo — who the paper at the time only identified as Lawyer X — to inform on her clients.
Mr Overland told an IBAC inquiry that year that “any ethical issues with respect to clients were for (her)” but she was “pathologically incapable of acting in (her) own best interest”.
Former chief crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert, QC, last month said: “Anyone who sanctioned this should have gone.”
He named current Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and Mr Overland as “being parties to what’s gone on”.