Nothing ‘driving’ Graham Ashton to dig deeper into Lawyer X decision: royal commission
Top cop Graham Ashton has conceded that the Lawyer X matter might have been different if he had questioned the decision to use gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo to inform police — but maintains he didn’t do the wrong thing.
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Victoria’s top cop said he “didn’t do the wrong thing” by failing to question the decision to use gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo as a police informer.
But he conceded if he had asked the questions earlier, things might have been different.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said there was nothing “driving” him to dig deeper when it was revealed the criminal barrister was a secretly providing information about her clients to police — despite him working at the body which investigated police misconduct and corruption at the time.
Mr Ashton said there was no suggestion there were any integrity issues at play when he was told of Gobbo’s doublecrossing by one of her handlers in mid 2007 ahead of an OPI examination which threatened to expose her source identity.
“There was no basis for me to have concern about police acting badly in relation to it,” Mr Ashton told the Royal Commission into the management of police informers.
Asked by counsel assisting Chris Winneke QC why he didn’t question the move by police to register Gobbo as an informer, Mr Ashton said it was something he had thought about in the decade since.
“If I had decided to ask further questions about it, it would’ve prompted further answers. The matters since could’ve been earlier disclosed,” Mr Ashton said.
MORE LAWYER X
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WHY ASHTON STOPPED TAKING POLICE NOTES
Mr Ashton returned to the witness stand for a second day of grilling over what he knew about the Lawyer X scandal which has rocked the police force.
The top cop was again scrutinised over his bizarre decision to stop taking notes in his police diary for almost two years during the height of Nicola Gobbo’s informing.
Mr Winneke questioned why Mr Ashton failed to keep any record of the conversation which revealed Nicola Gobbo was informer 3838.
Mr Ashton stood by his evidence from yesterday that he was not keeping a police diary at the time and immediately informed the director of the OPI George Brouwer.