Tony Mokbel hits out as freedom bid staggers through court system

Tony Mokbel and his legal team have hit out at prosecutors as his bid to walk free from jail languishes in the court system.

Tony Mokbel in custody in Athens in 2008. Picture: AP

Tony Mokbel and his legal team have taken a swipe at his prosecutor as his bid to walk out of jail staggers through the the court system.

Mokbel’s lawyer, Ruth Shann QC, told a Supreme Court directions hearing on Tuesday the Director of Public Prosecutions was not acting as a “model litigant’’ as her client languished in prison.

The court on Tuesday heard that factual disputes remain in Mokbel’s case, which has delayed the appeal progressing.

The legal role and impact of lawyer turned secret spy Nicola Gobbo on duping Mokbel is at the heart of the dispute.

Mokbel’s extradition from Greece to Australia is a key battleground for the drug lord, who was captured by the AFP and the now defunct Purana taskforce in Athens in June 2007.

Mokbel is led into Melbourne’s Supreme Court in 2011.

Mokbel has long claimed that after his arrest, his lawyer, Gobbo, duped him by giving him legal advice while also feeding Victoria Police information about his legal strategy in her role as a registered informer.

Gobbo also charged Mokbel a fee.

The Lawyer X royal commission also delved into Mokbel’s extradition and Gobbo’s dual role.

But the Office of Public Prosecutions, to date, has not agreed Gobbo was acting as Mokbel’s lawyer while he sat in a Greek prison cell.

Ms Shann said the case was in “danger of blowing out and heading off the rails’’.

“It’s difficult to dispute she was providing privileged information,’’ Ms Shann said.

Ruth Shann, QC. Picture: AAP

“There is an absurdity to some of the submissions which have been made in this regard.’’

Mokbel is still waiting on tranches of documents, some from Corrections Victoria archives, detailing computer and phone records, which will detail Gobbo’s visits and calls to prisons.

Ms Shann said Mokbel, who filed his appeal in 2017, had been waiting a long time for a court date.

“I’ve got a client in custody,’’ she said.

“This matter has been allocated a priority matter. We want a sense that this matter is drawing to a close.’’

Chief Crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane QC, for the DPP, objected to the assertion the director had been “anything other than a model litigant’’.

Mr Kissane said Mokbel had pleaded guilty and it was analysing each of his cases.

“Our case goes a long way to drawing out the issues in this matter,’’ he said.

“Far from being not a model litigant, what we have tried to do is highlight the issues in the particular cases.’’

Mokbel, who watched the hearing via a live stream, was dressed in a suit and tie.

He waved to the court when asked if he could hear the proceeding.

The parties have agreed to work on a joint “issues’’ document to be submitted to the Court of Appeal on March 11.

Mokbel’s case is set to be heard by a bench of three in April.