Cowboy detectives a ‘significant embarrassment’ to force
Cowboy detectives charged with managing Nicola Gobbo illegally recorded secret conversations and transported ice and live ammunition around the country, an inquest heard.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Ego-driven detectives tasked with managing police informers for Victoria Police illegally recorded covert conversations, and transported ice and live ammunition across state borders in a “significant embarrassment” to the force, a senior officer has revealed.
Superintendent John O’Connor lifted the lid of a culture of egos and risk-taking in the Source Developement Unit which managed human sources, including barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo.
Mr O’Connor was brought in a year after Ms Gobbo was deregistered as a source to “intrusively supervise” the covert policing unit after a series of embarrassing incidents involving members interstate.
The senior policeman today told the Royal Commission into the Lawyer X scandal that he believed officers were “very hard working” but had become “desensitised from the goals and values of the organisation”.
“They believed that source … was their number one priority,” Mr O’Connor said.
“I had to reiterate to them on a number of occasions that you’re sworn to serve the Victorian community.”
It was revealed today that certain members of the SDU:
• Accidentally brought live ammunition onto an aeroplane in a backpack;
• Drove ice and dirty cash across state lines into Victoria;
• Transmitted sexually explicit videos and photos on a work phone;
• Carried a package of ice from a source on a commercial flight to Victoria; and
• Repeatedly made illegal recordings of conversations contrary to interstate laws.
Mr O’Connor said he was “amazed” the senior detectives had acted in this way despite their training, but conceded they were following instructions by senior command.
In his statement to the commission, Mr O’Connor said a culture had developed over several years which saw detectives engage in “risk taking based on ego rather than risk versus reward”.
An investigation into the interstate conduct of the detectives was launched but no disciplinary action was taken.
The detective who used his work phone to send pornography was hauled before the Ethical Standards committee and later resigned.
The commission heard Mr O’Connor was tasked with implementing a series of policy changes, including the relocation of the remote SDU site to police headquarters on St Kilda Rd — a move that enraged some within unit, the commission heard.
Members of the covert unit pushed back against management, claiming Mr O’Connor was under qualified in the area.
The SDU was ultimately shut down in February 2013 with senior command advising the detectives it was “too great a risk” to continue operating the unit.
Mr O’Connor denied suggestions the unit was closed following “embarrassment” over the relationship between the SDU and Ms Gobbo.
During his role as head of the division, O’Connor also became the point of contact for Ms Gobbo after she was deregistered as a police informer.
He told the commission it was his role to “distance” the barrister from the force, despite her “fondness” of communicating with her handlers.
LAWYER X TRIED SNITCHING ON MOKBEL TO AFP
Doublecrossing gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo twice attempted to snitch on clients to the AFP years before she was registered as an informer for Victoria Police, a royal commission has heard.
Federal Police told the commission into the Lawyer X scandal Ms Gobbo had approached agents in the late 1990s to provide intel while representing Horty Mokbel — brother to drug baron Tony — who was facing tax evasion charges.
During a late-night meeting at the CBD’s Celtic Club with two federal agents in May 1998, the then-junior solicitor alluded to possible information she could provide, while discussing the “morality and ethics” of lawyers and police.
Ms Gobbo told agents she was concerned about her identity being revealed and feared listening devices may be placed in her home, the commission heard.
Ms Gobbo was part of a team of solicitors representing Horty Mokbel and helped Tony and a third Mokbel brother, Kabalan, prepare affidavits to support his bid for bail.
Tony and Kabalan were subsequently charged with perjury in relation to their affidavits and Ms Gobbo was asked to provide a statement concerning her involvement.
The brothers were found not guilty and it was during this time Ms Gobbo first made contact with federal police.
The day after the late-night meeting, Ms Gobbo called the agents claiming she needed to “divulge” information because it was “creating a moral problem for her”.
In a letter provided to the Royal Commission, lawyers for the AFP said the agents had no intention to register Ms Gobbo as an informer.
TOP COP TO ADMIT POLICE WERE ‘HOOKED’ ON LAWYER X
LAWYER X DETECTIVE MAKES STUNNING ADMISSION
“Ms Gobbo did not provide any information of substance. The members considered (her) untrustworthy and were of the view she was trying to elicit information from AFP,” the letter read.
During the same year, Ms Gobbo approached two other federal agents about a separate matter involving a client, Rita Goldberg, who was facing fraud charges.
Ms Gobbo offered information relating to alleged money laundering charges, but none resulted in any investigations or charges being laid.
The two meetings came years before Ms Gobbo was officially registered as a police informer.
Horty was later acquitted of the fraud charges.