Victoria Police spending millions to keep Nicola Gobbo hidden in Australia

Victoria Police is spending millions to keep lawyer-turned-snitch Nicola Gobbo hidden in Australia, with a claim they also threatened to take her kids as leverage to keep her quiet.

Victoria Police has been spending millions of dollars on a secret operation to keep lawyer-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo silent and hidden in Australia.

The Herald Sun has been told the force has been running a special unit codenamed Operation Adobe to “keep a lid” on Gobbo.

A source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the 49-year-old former barrister and her children had been under police guard since before Gobbo gave evidence to the Lawyer X royal commission in February, 2020.

It can also be revealed Gobbo’s return to Australia to give evidence sparked several secret court battles surrounding her circumstances.

It comes as Gobbo is in the process of launching civil action against Victoria Police over her identity as informer 3838 being publicly exposed.

Gobbo, who represented some of Australia’s leading organised crime bosses, such as Tony Mokbel,Carl Williams and Rob Karam, while also acting as a police informer, gave evidence from an unknown location to the royal commission after returning to Australia from Asia. Gobbo has been known to travel overseas since the Lawyer X scandal broke, but was in Australia recently.

Nicola Gobbo with former client Tony Mokbel.

Many sources have told the Herald Sun there are concerns about tactics being used by the force, which could cause another scandal.

They have alleged police have used the threat of Gobbo’s children being taken from her as leverage to make her “stay quiet”.

It has also been claimed that Gobbo’s evidence to the Lawyer X royal commission was “controlled”.

“We gave the impression to all she was overseas,” a source, who did not want to be identified, told the Herald Sun.

“Adobe was the top-secret illegal operation we ran to keep a lid on the Lawyer X saga by keeping a lid on her.

“Cost to VicPol has been millions of dollars since the RC (royal commission).

“That’s what’s being spent (and) being hidden from the public.”

In 2015, the Herald Sun published a report about police warning Gobbo her children could be put in care.

High Court documents released in 2018 confirmed Victoria Police made threats to take Gobbo’s children away unless she complied with the force’s security arrangements.

The force has since spent millions of dollars with law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth to defend itself over the Lawyer X scandal.

A source says a special unit was set up to “keep a lid” on Nicola Gobbo.

But its arrangements with Gobbo have been a tightly held secret since she’s been under police protection for the past three years.

It’s been alleged that under her current arrangements, Gobbo cannot speak to family, friends or the media.

She can, however, speak to her lawyers.

A source said the force had “easily” spent millions of dollars on keeping Gobbo in a “kind of jail life” and on lawyers to give it legal advice.

Victoria Police would not comment on questions sent to it last week.

It was reported this month that Victoria Police in 2020 offered to pay for Gobbo to flee overseas, including to a country with no extradition treaty with Australia, to avoid any potential prosecution.

But a police statement denied the force had at any time undermined the royal commission.

“Any suggestion that Victoria Police has done or is doing anything to undermine the royal commission is simply untrue. Victoria Police remains focused on implementing all the recommendations from the royal commission,” it read.

“We are also co-operating fully with the Office of the Special Investigator and other relevant agencies.”

In June last year, the Andrews government appointed former High Court Justice Geoffrey Nettle as special investigator to probe issues uncovered by the Lawyer X royal commission.

Justice Nettle is tasked with investigating potential criminal conduct of Gobbo and current and former Victoria Police officers, who could also face disciplinary action.

The government has committed $13.47m to the Office of Special Investigator – part of an overall $88m package in last year’s budget – to implement the commission’s recommendations.