Rita Panahi: Lawyer X scandal is about integrity, fairness

The punishments hardened criminals so richly deserve are now in jeopardy. Why should we care? Because they had their rights trampled on by authorities and next time it could be you or your loved one, writes Rita Panahi.

Why should we care that a bunch of recidivist criminals, the worst of the worst, were convicted by evidence gathered unethically?

Surely, if they are guilty as sin it doesn’t matter that the person they trusted with their defence betrayed them?

Why is the Herald Sun hellbent on pursuing this story when it only helps hardened criminals escape the punishment they so richly deserve?

RON IDDLES: SCANDAL WAS ALWAYS GOING TO COME OUT

MOKBEL CARTEL DROVE LAWYER X TO BECOME SNITCH

ROYAL COMMISSION TO PROBE LAWYER SCANDAL

Variations of these arguments have been put forward by countless people in recent days in the wake of the Lawyer X scandal.

But what happened in Victoria, over more than a decade, should concern every fair-minded person who cares about justice, the rule of law and due process.

The saga is complicated but at its heart it’s about integrity and fairness.

Hardened criminals, including drug dealers and violent offenders, are likely to be released prematurely.

Hundreds of convictions are now in jeopardy including high-profile cases of drug syndicate and mafia bosses such as the “Tomato Tin” case, one of the world’s biggest drug busts, which resulted in 32 crims being sentenced to close to 300 years behind bars.

The Lawyer X scandal will further undermine the public’s trust in the Victorian justice system.

Lengthy and costly legal action will follow, at the taxpayers’ expense, while lawyers line their pockets thanks to the malfeasance of powerful individuals who decided that the ends justified the means.

There are some things that are sacrosanct, including client lawyer privilege and the presumption of innocence.

Victoria isn’t some backward banana republic or totalitarian regime where the accused have no rights; every person charged with a crime has the fundamental right to a thorough and robust defence.

It’s bad enough for a lawyer, who has a sworn duty to act in a client’s best interests, not to provide the very best defence possible but to actively work against their client in cahoots with the police is a betrayal that is mind-blowing.

It is difficult to understand how so many learned people in positions of influence thought it was okay to accept tainted information that would not pass the pub test let alone the scrutiny of the full bench of the High Court.

In a damning judgment on Monday, the High Court slammed both Lawyer X and Victoria police for their unscrupulous conduct.

Hundreds of convictions are now in jeopardy including high-profile cases of drug syndicate and mafia bosses such as the ‘Tomato Tin’ case.

“EF’s (Lawyer X’s) actions in purporting to act as counsel for the convicted persons while covertly informing against them were fundamental and appalling breaches of EF’s obligations as counsel to her clients and of EF’s (Lawyer X’s) duties to the court,” the High Court said.

“Likewise, Victoria Police were guilty of reprehensible conduct in knowingly encouraging EF (Lawyer X) to do as she did and were involved in sanctioning atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of every police officer … the prosecution of each convicted person was corrupted in a manner which debased fundamental premises of the criminal justice system.”

For a lawyer to ‘snitch’ on her clients in such a manner is unprecedented and no amount of self-serving justification will change the fact that Lawyer X was a registered informer between 2005 to 2009, and an unregistered one for many years more.

She is reported to have received hundreds of thousands in expenses before a compensation payout from Victoria Police estimated to be in the vicinity of $3 million.

If it was you or your loved one in the dock, fighting for your liberty, you’d agree that the person you pay to defend you should not be playing for the other side.

We are all entitled to believe that the lawyer we trust with privileged information isn’t going to leak it to the very people trying to put us in jail. And yet there are some who prefer to shoot the messenger. The notion that the Herald Sun shouldn’t have relentlessly pursued this issue for five years because the end result is more bad guys on the streets is simplistic, shortsighted nonsense.

The blame for what is to come lies squarely at the feet of those who abused their privileged position and did what was expedient instead of what was right.

The Lawyer X scandal is likely to lead to some habitual offenders not only being released from prison or earning retrials but also compensation from the government. It will also further undermine the public’s trust in the Victorian justice system.

The royal commission, expected to embroil senior police and officials, will be another lawyers’ picnic, costing more than $7 million, but it is very much necessary to uncover precisely who did what, why and when and whether any of those people are still in positions of power.

While I have little in the way of sympathy for criminals, I have long subscribed to the notion that “it’s better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted”. This time it was serious criminals who had their rights trampled on by authorities, next time it could be you or your loved one.

EDITORIAL: SHINING A LIGHT ON GANG WAR SECRETS

TOMATO TIN DRUG STING CONVICTIONS COULD BE CRUSHED

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

[e-mail]