Lawyer X: Secret tapes inside Nicola Gobbo’s first meeting with key handler

Gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo was told her first meeting with a key police handler wasn’t being recorded. It was. Here’s part of what was captured on tape.

Nicola Gobbo was told her first meeting with a key handler was not being recorded, but it was.

Victoria Police lied to its soon-to-be prized gangland informer Lawyer X at her recruitment meeting, a Royal Commission has heard.

Gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo who became known as Lawyer X was told her first meeting with a key handler was not being recorded, but she was.

The Lawyer X Royal Commission was played three recordings between Gobbo and handler - who goes by the pseudonym Sandy White - from September 16 2005, her first meeting with officers from the specialist Source Development Unit.

Gobbo says: “Before we start, before you say anything else, is this being recorded?

Mr White says: “It’s not but I’m about to start a recorder.”

“Well, I’m very concerned about that but,” Gobbo said.

Mr White said: “Yeah. No you tell me - before I start then, you tell me what your concerns are and I’ll see if I can allay ‘em for you.”

Police handling of Lawyer X Nicola Gobbo is being examined by the commission.

But despite Gobbo’s reservations Mr White continued to covertly record the meeting.

Mr White told Gobbo he would record her in the future if they continued the source relationship.

Mr White said Gobbo was a target for source recruitment a year before the 2005 meeting, as he believed she was “vulnerable” to a police approach following a stroke she had in July 2004.

Mr White said Gobbo was a difficult source to manage and revealed he had once considered if he could arrest her after she defied his instruction not to represent people she had informed on.

Mr White said he specifically told Gobbo not to act for a prolific drug cook that her direct intelligence meant police were able to arrest him.

“She told me Sandy I’m going to whether you like it or not.”

“It did cross my mind that (arresting her) might be an option but there is no powers of arrest due to conflict of interest and I don’t think there was sufficient evidence for the perversion of the course of justice.

“That was an option I considered all my options and I eliminated that one pretty quickly.”

Instead he told the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants that they tried to put Gobbo into “babysitting mode.”

“She was told we don’t want any intelligence and weren’t going to act on any intelligence.”

He said Gobbo stayed in babysitting mode until the relationship with the Source Development Unit ended in 2009.

But he said Gobbo continued to volunteer information to her handlers, including about a plot to smuggle 4 tonnes of MDMA into Australia hidden in tomato tins - which could not be ignored.

“She was the type of person who would come into meetings and release all types of information.”

Earlier in the hearing Victoria Police were lashed over its ongoing stalling tactics and tardy productions of documents crucial to the running of the Royal Commission.

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo told the force to stop dumping large volumes of files on the commission at the 11th hour.

The commission has identified through metadata Victoria Police had reviewed files months earlier, but failed to produce them until the weekend.

Police warned to stop Lawyer X stalling tactics

The royal commission into Lawyer X has warned Victoria Police over its ongoing stalling tactics in producing documents before hearings.

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo told the force to stop dumping large volumes of files on the commission at the 11th hour.

The commission has identified through metadata that Victoria Police had reviewed files months earlier, but failed to produce them until the weekend.

Ms McMurdo said after a four-week notice, a large tranche of documents of 2290 documents arrived on Sunday at 1.42am.

On Monday night more than 290 emails were also received by the royal commission for this week’s hearings.

Royal Commission Chair Margaret McMurdo told police to stop the late production of documents.

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“The medata underlying the documents reveals that Victoria Police identified a significant number of these documents many months ago,’’ Commissioner McMurdo said.

“A further 400 documents also appear to have been opened and reviewed in or around April. “Victoria Police were clearly aware of those documents at the time, was only produced at the weekend. Victoria Police is continuing to produce documents immediately prior to witnesses being called.

“They relate to the first notice the commission made for Victoria Police to produce in January this year.

“I know it is extremely busy, you and your team are certainly trying to do everything you can do. But it is not satisfactory.”

The Herald Sun has been told Victoria Police has applied the tactic since the informer scandal broke in 2014, including at the anti-corruption body IBAC and during multiple Supreme Court hearings.

The commission this week is focused on police who directly handled barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo as a human source.