Judge demands police make drug baron’s appeal arising from Lawyer X scandal their ‘top priority’
A Supreme Court justice has slammed Victoria Police inefficiency that has delayed accused drug kingpin Rob Karam’s appeal against his conviction in the wake of the Lawyer X scandal.
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Victoria Police has again been slammed for dragging its feet in preparation for an appeal by convicted drug baron Rob Karam sparked by the Lawyer X scandal.
Karam, who is serving a 37-year jail term, has appealed his conviction after learning his lawyer, gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo, was working as a police informer.
Police have been ordered to hand over documents to Karam’s legal team, specifically material which reveal how Gobbo informed on him.
They have so far disclosed limited documents and today asked the Court of Appeal for extra time to hand over the rest.
Police had originally applied to surrender the documents by May 20, but within three days of making that application told the court they wouldn’t be able to meet that deadline.
They have now been given until June 29 to disclose the material.
Court of Appeal president Justice Chris Maxwell said today he was concerned about the delays in the case, which started in 2016.
“If this was a commercial trial we’d be saying give us your top 50 documents and let’s get on with it,” he said.
“Maybe too many cooks are spoiling the broth.’
Brendan Murphy, QC, representing Victoria Police, said despite extra resources now dedicated to the document search there was still a large amount of material to analyse.
Police and other agencies are assessing the material for sensitive material including police methodology and other informers they do not want made public.
The court heard each agency was assessing the material before passing it back to Victoria Police to be reanalysed.
Justice Mark Weinberg said it was “hard to imagine a less efficient system”.
Some material, including 52 audio recordings, are only being transcribed now for the first time, with just 18 ready to hand over to Karam’s lawyers.
“Why weren’t they under review in 2016 when this started?”, Justice Maxwell asked.
“People don’t seem to be looking in the right place (for material),” he said.
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Justice Maxwell said the court remained deeply concerned about the lack of progress in the case.
He said police needed to make the appeal a “top priority”.
“Other work if necessary will need to cease,” he said.