Tony Mokbel has request rejected for third taxpayer-funded lawyer

Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel’s bid for a third taxpayer-funded lawyer to help in his fight to be released from prison has hit a snag.

Gangland drug lord Tony Mokbel has hit a snag on the eve of his marathon appeal battle after he was refused another taxpayer-funded lawyer to help in his fight for release from prison.

The underworld figure, chasing freedom over claims his drug trafficking case was tainted by barrister-turned police informer Nicola Gobbo, has had his request for a third lawyer rejected by Victoria Legal Aid (VLA).

It comes as the notorious criminal is set to take the Supreme Court stand on Tuesday at the starting block of a 12-week hearing, where he will call top Victorian judges and former prosecutors among 36 witnesses.

The hearing will seek answers to 25 crucial questions, with the information then sent up to a higher court for the 58-year-old’s much-anticipated substantive appeal.

Tony Mokbel is preparing for a 12-week hearing in his fight to be released from prison.

During preliminary argument on Monday, the Supreme Court heard Mokbel is now appealing the VLA’s decision last week to deny him funding for barrister Emma Fargher, who was supposed to take the key document role in his trio of legal eagles.

Justice Elizabeth Fullerton said: “I do not overstate it in describing the documents in this case as extremely voluminous and the management of them … as being challenging to the extreme.”

After being invited to offer her “observations” by Mokbel’s lead barrister Julie Condon KC, Her Honour said she was “concerned to ensure that there is balance” in the legal resources funded by the state, both for the Director of Public Prosecutions and for Mokbel via Legal Aid.

The issue of balanced legal representation was “important for Mr Mokbel, and also important for the administration of justice,” Justice Fullerton said.

Her Honour — parachuted in from NSW given senior Victorian legal officials are set to be called to give evidence — said her comments shouldn’t be perceived as an attempt to “apply pressure or to even influence the appeal process”.

Rather, Her Honour sought to offer the VLA decision makers her perspective.

Mokbel’s 30-year drug trafficking sentence was last year slashed by four years due to the Lawyer X scandal, making him eligible for parole in 2031.

He’s seeking to overturn his conviction in his current fight.