Carl Williams raised alarm over ‘dog’ Nicola Gobbo with legal bodies
She once moved in the inner circle of gangland kingpin Carl Williams, but Lawyer X Nicola Gobbo was the subject of his letters to legal bodies after her unethical conduct aroused his suspicion — complaints which were ultimately overlooked.
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Gangland boss Carl Williams’s complaints to legal authorities about the unethical conduct of Lawyer X, Nicola Gobbo, were investigated by her peers but ultimately overlooked.
On Sunday, the Royal Commission into Management of Police Informants released 50 documents — mostly with sections blacked out — revealing the Bar Ethics Committee for barristers probed Ms Gobbo’s activities after Williams, in August, 2006, made allegations about her legal conduct.
The Victorian Bar Ethics Committee called on Ms Gobbo to provide a “full written explanation of her conduct and any other information or documents”.
But her explanation, which has not been released, appears to have satisfied the committee.
Williams became suspicious of her a year earlier and in private letters called her a “dog” — slang for someone who co-operates with police — after realising she was acting for his former henchmen, who had become prosecution witnesses against him.
As revealed by the Sunday Herald Sun in March, Williams wrote letters to many legal bodies, including the Legal Ombudsman, identifying her unethical behaviour.
Williams also wrote to Justice Betty King on August 2, 2006, outlining his “grave concerns’’ about Ms Gobbo.
“I raise this with you because it gives me grave concerns, as Nicola Gobbo has acted in the past for my family members and myself, if ever a conflict of interest rises, I am sure it does and has for a long time.
“I find this to be double standards of the highest level, there seems to be one rule for me, and another rule for others.’’
It is not known if Justice King received the letter.
She would, in 2007, sentence him to 35 years in prison.
Ms Gobbo, a barrister turned police informer during the gangland era, helped bring key witnesses against organised crime bigwigs such as Williams and Tony Mokbel, despite the barrister being their “go to” lawyer.
The letters, written by Williams while in prison awaiting trial over a series of murders, also unearthed Mr Gobbo’s access to inmates in maximum security.
GOBBO SPILT POLICE INFO TO MOKBEL CLAN
VIOLENT THREATS SENT TO LAWYER X
“I am currently about to face a murder trial in relation to the murder of Jason Moran and Pasquale Barbaro, my alleged co-accused in the matter were (redacted names),” he wrote to the Legal Ombudsman.
Williams then named three former co-accused for the murders of Moran and Barbaro, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who had “rolled” on Williams and become witnesses for the prosecution.
All three witnesses against Williams had been represented by Gobbo.
Roberta Williams revived the question of conflicts in 2008, with the Victorian Bar Ethics Committee probing the complaint.
Police intelligence reports reveal Ms Gobbo was angered by the complaint made by Williams’s ex-wife.
“Roberta has made a complaint to legal ombudsman that HS (Human Source) is conflicted re Faruk Orman,” the June 3, 2008, police entry states. The complaint was dismissed.