Top lawyers to be probed over Lawyer X in Karam freedom

As convicted drug lord Rob Karam appeals to be freed from jail, top prosecutors will be probed over what they knew about the police informer who helped get him locked up.

Top federal prosecutors will be grilled on what they knew about Lawyer X as convicted drug tsar Rob Karam makes his bid to be freed from jail.

CDPP deputy director Shane Kirne and solicitor Krista Breckweg will take the stand to give evidence about their knowledge of Nicola Gobbo – aka Lawyer X – as a police informer prior to prosecuting Karam.

Karam, who is serving a 37-year jail stint for major drug trafficking over the audacious 2007 “Tomato Tins’’ ecstasy importation and subsequent drug offending – had a close relationship with Gobbo who also acted as his lawyer.

Gobbo, however, stung Karam after he handed her a shipping document for safekeeping which she photocopied and handed to her police handlers weeks before the world record ecstasy shipment arrived at Melbourne’s docks in June, 2007.

The document, known as a bill of lading, led Australian Customs and the Australian Federal Police directly to the container, which was loaded with more than 3000 tomato tins stuffed with 15 million ecstasy pills.

The AFP seized the ecstasy and continued its surveillance on the syndicate’s members, including Karam.

Rob Karam had a close relationship with Nicola Gobbo. Picture: ABC News

Gobbo, whose third stint as a registered Victoria Police informer extended from 2005 to 2009, was paid at least $245,000 by Karam for legal services.

The Lawyer X royal commission was told Commonwealth prosecutors learned of Gobbo’s dual role as lawyer and police informer in November, 2011, while prosecuting a case against former police officer Paul Dale.

Karam faced trial after this point in cases relating to two major AFP-led investigations.

Karam’s appeal is based on five key points:

• That his trial was an abuse of process

• It was unfair because the Crown did not disclose to him that Gobbo was an informer who improperly influenced him

• He was denied his right to independent counsel

• His right to silence was denied following his arrest

Although Karam was the first to lodge his appeal over the Lawyer X scandal in 2016, preceding the High Court ruling over the issue, his case has been stymied over an inability between the Crown and Karam to settle on the facts of the case.

They still remain unresolved.

The Court of Appeal heard Karam’s written submissions include a large number of assertions.

There have been multiple affidavits about the facts in dispute submitted to the court.

But in a major win for Karam, the Court of Appeal rejected the Crown’s attempt to prevent some witnesses from giving evidence.

The appeal has been referred for a single judge in the Supreme Court’s trial division to determine the facts, which will involve numerous witnesses.

Rob Karam is serving a 37-year jail stint for major drug trafficking.

The issues will include:

• Whe did Gobbo give information to police about Karam

• What information did Gobbo give police about Karam

• Who was provided with the information

• Was there a strategy by Victoria Police to conceal Gobbo as an informer from the defence

• The nature of lawyer-client relationship between Gobbo and Karam from 2007 to 2015

• What was Gobbo’s role in Karam’s defences

• Whether the AFP, Victoria Police and the Commonwealth DPP knew Gobbo was an informer and when

Other issues which will be part of the next court hearing will involve Karam’s record of interview to Victoria Police following his arrest in 2008.

A directions hearing for the next stage in Karam’s appeal will be held on Friday.