Lawyer X royal commission given power to vary gag orders protecting gangland informers
The Lawyer X royal commission has been granted the power to vary gag orders protecting some of gangland’s most important informers. But the identities of the underworld players, including those who turned on their crime bosses will remain a secret.
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The Lawyer X royal commission has been granted the power to vary gag orders protecting some of gangland’s most important informers.
The identities of the underworld players, including those who turned on their crime bosses will, however, remain a secret.
The Appeal Court ruling on Tuesday allows Lawyer X Commissioner Margaret McMurdo to vary more than 50 suppression orders relating to 30 individuals whose cases may have been tainted by barrister-turned informer Nicola Gobbo’s role as an agent of police.
The Lawyer X royal commission will now turn its attention back to writing a report that the public can digest.
“This variation allows the Commissioner to consider for herself what matters should and should not be included in publicly available versions of Counsel Assisting’s closing submissions, which will be circulated to Victoria Police today, and the Commission’s final report, due to be delivered to the Governor of Victoria by 30, November, 2020,’’ a statement said.
The historical orders sought to be amended date between 2002-2013.
Those who are waiting on the commission’s findings include jailed drug kingpins Tony Mokbel and Rob Karam, who are among those appealing their convictions.
The commission’s final report will use pseudonyms to hide the identities of those historically protected by suppression orders.
Those fearful of being exposed can request the royal commission to keep information about them a secret.
“We accept that in a case such as this it involves consideration, on the one hand, the important role that police informers pay, but it also, on the other hand, involves important considerations such as open justice and the integrity of the criminal justice system,’’ Penny Neskovcin QC, for the royal commission, told the court.
The decision was seen as an important step towards the Lawyer X commission being able to explain the impact of Victoria Police’s use of Gobbo.
Victoria Police released a statement today declaring it had not opposed the commission’s court application to amend historical suppression orders.
Police did, however, apply for suppression orders on Monday, securing a ban on images being published of several individuals until their deaths.
“This was because we hold serious concerns about the safety of those individuals and their families should photographs of them be made publicly available,’’ it said.
The royal commission did not oppose the new orders.
But there has been an ongoing battle between the commission and Victoria Police about ‘’bio-data’’ relating to police informers and witnesses.
Bio-data relates to pieces of information which may tend to identify an individual, such as when or where they were arrested and their associates.
This information has often been redacted from documents by police under “public interest immunity’’ claims.
Among those being protected under suppression orders are those who struck deals to get years off their sentences in turn for their evidence.
They include hitmen, gun suppliers and drug traffickers.
An extraordinary regime of suppression orders, numbering more than 240, have been made since the commission began its hearings in early 2019.
Victoria Police has flagged it will continue to engage with the commission over further “PII’’ issues.
One central criminal figure to the Gobbo saga has claimed allowing the commission to vary his suppression order is an “abuse of process’’.
Gobbo was registered as informer by Victoria Police on three occasions in 1995, 1999 and 2005.
Gobbo, recruited as informer 3838, informed on her clients to police and in many instances continued to represent them.
Neither police or Gobbo ever disclosed her informer status to a court during her time as a registered “human source’’ and actively hid her role from being exposed.