Tony Mokbel’s Lawyer X appeal upheld: What happens next
Gangland figure Tony Mokbel has secured a mixed victory in his dramatic Lawyer X appeal, with two convictions quashed but one upheld by Victoria’s highest court. See what happens next.
As drug king Tony Mokbel dined at a steak restaurant across the road from Victoria’s Supreme Court, he and his team would have spitballed what comes next.
Hours earlier on Friday, in simple terms, Mokbel got off one drug trafficking charge (Quills), had another also quashed but was ordered to stand trial over it (Orbital) and a third conviction stuck (Magnum).
For all of this offending - to which he pleaded guilty in 2011 - Mokbel was serving 26 years jail before he was bailed in April due his Lawyer X appeal.
His future now lays in the hands of prosecutors who will decide whether to proceed with re-charging him and going to trial on the Orbital case.
In mid-2005, a sting operation on Mokbel led him to deal with two AFP undercover officers in the alleged belief they could potentially source MDMA from international suppliers.
It was alleged Mokbel sought to import 100kg of the drug.
A prosecution would likely be an exercise in securing a conviction that would not lead Mokbel back to jail given he has served 18 years in prison.
Then there is the Magnum conviction, which remains intact after Friday’s court ruling.
To expunge Magnum, Mokbel would need to appeal to the High Court of Australia to overcome evidence that was not tainted by his lawyer-turned-police snitch Nicola Gobbo.
The two quashed cases against Mokbel were ruled to have been badly contaminated by Gobbo’s informing against him, her client, after Victoria Police used her as a registered informer from 2005 to 2009.
Gobbo was also crucial to “rolling” Mokbel’s criminal associates, who were also her clients, against him.
But the Magnum conviction did not rely on Gobbo’s informing.
It was a musician who worked for Mokbel who secured for police his phone numbers to tap, documents and transaction records.
During an international manhunt for Mokbel, who absconded bail while on trial in March 2006, police were listening as he continued running his drug enterprise – dubbed “The Company” - while abroad.
Between July 2006 and June, 2007, Mokbel trafficked in excess of 41 kilograms of methylamphetamine, financing the operation.
On Friday, Justice McLeish said that Mokbel would not serve any further jail time relating to the Magnum offence when he is re-sentenced in November.
Prosecutor David Glynn said “we acknowledge the existence of a potential powerful argument that he’s served his time” in not opposing extending Mokbel’s bail extension.
In April, Mokbel was sensationally granted bail on a $1m surety posted by his sister Gawy Saad due to the contamination of his case.
Since, he has been living in Ms Saad’s townhouse in Viewbank in Melbourne’s northern suburbs and has been inseparable from his long-term girlfriend whom he met while behind bars.
Mokbel’s latest court appearance comes just months after the Allan government was forced to pay Mokbel $1m in compensation over a brutal bashing he received in 2019 inside Barwon Prison.
The money has been quarantined for 12-months for Mokbel’s creditors and victims to make claims against it.
Mokbel, however, is almost certain to sue again over the Lawyer X scandal – which the Allan Government’s State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Bill capped at $1m.
Any claim may be jeopardised by his remaining conviction.
The 60-year-old made no comment about whether he plans to sue the state again.
The force’s registration of Gobbo as “human source 3838” was initially aimed at jailing Mokbel and his cartel.
Mokbel has been jailed at Barwon in prison since 2008 following his extradition to Melbourne from Greece following a massive international manhunt for him.
During his time in jail, Mokbel has been acquitted of the murder of Carlton Crew member Lewis Moran, 58, who was gunned down by a hitman inside the Brunswick Club in Sydney Road in March 2004.
Police withdrew a murder charge against Mokbel over the murder of kickboxer and hotdog vendor Michael Marshall.
The flamboyant Mokbel was the first to launch an appeal over the Lawyer X scandal in 2017, but watched on as others were released from prison – the first being wrongly convicted gangland killer Faruk Orman.
