Nicola Gobbo, Victoria Police slammed in Lawyer X royal commission report
Nicola Gobbo and her police handlers may face criminal charges following a scathing royal commission report into the Lawyer X scandal.
Police & Courts
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Corrupt barrister Nicola Gobbo and high-ranking current and former police officers may face criminal charges following a bombshell royal commission report into the Lawyer X scandal, sparked by a Herald Sun investigation.
The government on Monday moved to appoint a special investigator to probe the actions of the gangland lawyer turned informer and the police who managed her as Commissioner Margaret McMurdo, AC, handed down her long-awaited findings.
Criminal charges could include perverting the course of justice, misconduct in public office and perjury.
Victoria Police was also ordered to disclose all documents to 1011 people whose cases may have directly or indirectly been affected by Ms Gobbo.
Commissioner McMurdo castigated the force’s conduct during Melbourne’s bloody gangland war, slamming police willingness to “tolerate bending the rules” to solve crimes.
The actions of the officers involved “corrupted the criminal justice system”, she said.
Ms Gobbo’s conduct was also labelled “inexcusable”, and Commissioner McMurdo said it “undermined the administration of justice”.
Former chief commissioner Simon Overland was criticised for prioritising ending the underworld war over the “grave risks” associated with using Ms Gobbo as an informer.
The inquiry found Mr Overland did not immediately seek legal advice on Ms Gobbo’s role because he was worried it would halt the flow of information he needed to stop the tit-for-tat murders.
He was among several current and former police whose actions should be investigated as having potentially constituted “misconduct”, the inquiry found.
Former police chief Graham Ashton was also criticised for failing to denounce the officers’ conduct when it was revealed years later after the High Court’s ruling in 2018.
The $40m commission was triggered after a five-year Herald Sun investigation into the double-dealing lawyer.
Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said the government would accept all 111 recommendations made by Commissioner McMurdo.
These include appointing a special investigator to examine whether Victoria Police officers committed criminal acts by using Ms Gobbo as an informer, as well as reforms to laws, policies and procedures governing the use of human sources.
The inquiry found several police fell short of their “legal, ethical and professional duties and obligations” by failing to disclose Ms Gobbo’s role as a secret supergrass.
While Commissioner McMurdo accepted one reason for doing so was to protect Ms Gobbo’s safety, she said it was also likely motivated by a desire to avoid “reputational damage”.
The former judge slammed Victoria Police’s stalling tactics in producing documents and statements to the commission and its inadequate record-keeping, which she said “hampered” her huge task.
Police also refused to hand over 11 informer files that related to up to a dozen people potentially with legal obligations to clients and others.
The Commission called on the state government to appoint a “suitably qualified person’’ to urgently review these files to determine if there was evidence any criminal prosecutions were affected.
Commissioner McMurdo said she often felt like “a boxer fighting with one hand tied behind my back”, but vowed these challenges did not stop her important work.
Following Victoria Police’s “belated” apology in September, current Chief Commissioner Shane Patton again acknowledged the “profound failure” of the organisation, and promised it would “not ever be repeated”.
Mr Patton yesterday said it was “an indefensible interference in the lawyer-client relationship” and “the ends, did not, and never do, justify the means”.
The acknowledgment follows Commissioner McMurdo’s finding that Mr Ashton “could and should have” conveyed a clear message to the public about the “improper and unacceptable conduct of police” in the wake of the High Court’s 2018 decision.
The convictions of two of Ms Gobbo’s former clients have already been overturned. Faruk Orman’s conviction for murder was quashed in July 2019 after 12 years behind bars.
And in October this year Zlate Cvetanovski was acquitted on drug trafficking charges due to a miscarriage of justice.
Appeals have been launched by some of Australia’s most infamous criminals, including drug lord Tony Mokbel and mafia bosses Pasquale Barbaro and Francesco Madafferi, who are fighting to be released from prison.
Commissioner McMurdo said Ms Gobbo’s dealing with Mokbel revealed the “sheer volume” of information she was willing to give to police.
“She told police about Mr Mokbel’s properties, finances, contact numbers, associates and the vehicles and code names he used,” she said.
“She divulged the defence strategies and tactics used by Mr Mokbel’s legal team, both in his criminal trial and his extradition proceedings.”
The Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants tabled its final report in parliament after 129 days of public and private hearings, the evidence of 82 witnesses and 155,000 documents.
POLICE GIVEN HURRY-UP ON APPEAL DOCUMENTS
Tony Mokbel’s appeal is expected to be one of the first big tests after a demand by the royal commission for police to disclose documents to anyone whose case may have been tainted by the involvement of lawyer-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo.
Commissioner Margaret McMurdo on Monday put police on notice to hand over documents immediately amid frustrations of those affected by Gobbo’s informing.
Of 1011 people identified as directly or indirectly affected, just 70 are still in custody.
As of December 2019, only 30 people had received disclosure from Victoria Police.
Commissioner McMurdo said the slow progress since had been “unsatisfactory”.
More than half a dozen jailed criminals have launched appeals, and two of Gobbo’s former clients have already walked free after their convictions were overturned.
Mokbel and his almost two dozen associates may have grounds to overturn their convictions due to secret police payments to a star witness manipulated by Gobbo.
Another tranche of appeals linked to the Tomato Tins drug bust in 2007, then the world’s biggest seizure of ecstasy, is ongoing.
Ten members of the syndicate are in jail, but another 22 could seek to have their convictions quashed.
Mokbel’s case was first raised by senior police with the Director of Public Prosecutions in mid-2012 but he was not told until six years later.
Mokbel is still waiting for full disclosure of documents relevant to his case.
“The commission is concerned about the slowness with which Victoria Police has acquitted its disclosure obligations and provided people with the information that they should have received many years ago before their trials,” Commissioner McMurdo said.
“I am therefore recommending that Victoria Police immediately commence reporting monthly on their progress towards meeting their long overdue disclosure obligations.”
Commissioner McMurdo also reiterated frustrations about the police’s tardiness with file production throughout the royal commission.
“The commission’s work was hampered by Victoria Police’s persistent late provision of often incomplete material and witness statements, and its inadequate record-keeping,” she said.
“These challenges led me to describe my role at times as a boxer fighting with one hand tied behind my back. These challenges did not stop the commission completing its work.”
POLICE SET UP TASKFORCE AFTER ‘PROFOUND FAILURE’
Chief commissioner Shane Patton has acknowledged Victoria Police’s “profound failure” as a breach of trust.
Mr Patton on Monday agreed with the massive weight of evidence — that the use of Nicola Gobbo did not pass the pub test.
“As Chief Commissioner, I have apologised to the courts and to the community for what occurred and I do so again today,” he said.
“I also apologise for our failure to identify and disclose what was occurring at the time.
“It has often been conveyed in the media that Victoria Police has failed to take responsibility. I want to be abundantly clear that I do not believe, and nor has it ever been submitted by Victoria Police, that ‘the ends justified the means’.
“While the police at the time were certainly grappling with extraordinarily challenging and dangerous times, I reiterate that the ends, did not, and never do, justify the means.”
It is in stark contrast to his predecessor Graham Ashton’s defence of his staff in 2018, when the High Court of Australia labelled the force as “reprehensible”. He said the use of Ms Gobbo as a police informer passed the “pub test”.
The Police Association did not wish to comment.
FULL STATEMENT BY CHIEF COMMISSIONER SHANE PATTON
I would like to make clear today Victoria Police’s absolute acknowledgment that the management of Nicola Gobbo as a human source and the manner in which the information she provided was used, was a profound failure by our organisation that must not, and will not, ever be repeated.
As Victoria Police has previously stated, it was an indefensible interference in the lawyer / client relationship that is a fundamental requirement for the proper functioning of our criminal justice system.
Victoria Police has a proud history of keeping the community safe, built on the foundations of mutual respect and trust. This was a breach of that trust.
As Chief Commissioner, I have apologised to the courts and to the community for what occurred and I do so again today. I also apologise for our failure to identify and disclose what was occurring at the time.
It has often been conveyed in the media that Victoria Police has failed to take responsibility. I want to be abundantly clear that I do not believe, and nor has it ever been submitted by Victoria Police, that ‘the ends justified the means’.
That is not my position. While the police at the time were certainly grappling with extraordinarily challenging and dangerous times, I reiterate that the ends, did not, and never do, justify the means.
Victoria Police has come a long way since the events under examination at this Royal Commission took place.
Significant reforms have been introduced that have overhauled our human source management practices.
As a result, our systems for dealing with a human source who may have obligations of confidentiality and privilege are vastly improved. As the Commissioner noted, we are one of the few Australian law enforcement agencies that adopts specific rules and safeguards for the use of human sources involving legal obligations of confidentiality or privilege.
In parallel, there has been a concerted and committed drive to strengthen our culture over recent years, in which the highest standards of conduct are expected of every police officer.
In today’s Victoria Police, what happened with Ms Gobbo simply could not occur.
That said, this Royal Commission has identified areas in which Victoria Police can further improve, and as Chief Commissioner I am committed to ensuring these opportunities are fully realised.
To that end I have initiated a new Taskforce, Taskforce Reset, that will lead our organisational response on all matters arising out of the RCMPI. The Taskforce will report directly to Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam and will be provided with all the resources necessary to ensure it is able to deliver fully on its remit.
This Royal Commission has been a deeply difficult experience for some of our serving and veteran police officers who have been required to reflect closely on the decisions they made up to 27 years ago.
It was a failure of Victoria Police governance and management that our police officers were operating in a complex and high risk environment without the training, resources, policies and support that they needed to do their jobs properly.
The Royal Commission has shown that our framework for the management of human sources was at the time wholly insufficient for the task at hand and did not provide the robust structure needed to ensure better decisions were being made.
Victoria Police will co-operate fully with any further criminal and discipline inquiries which arise because of this Royal Commission into the conduct of individual officers.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the enormous amount of work done by Victoria Police in support of this Commission.
At the start in December 2018, Victoria Police committed to co-operating fully and we have done just that.
It has been an enormous and challenging task and has involved searching through millions of emails and documents spanning 27 years.
In total Victoria Police has:
– Identified, located and searched over 52 million records
– Individually reviewed approximately 600,000 emails
– Produced 980 diary entries totalling 22,000 pages
– Transcribed and produced 230 hours of recordings
– Produced in total 75,000 documents totalling 650,000 pages
While we have had to be conscious of the significant safety risks arising to members of the community from the information contained in these documents, we have worked tirelessly to support the work of the Commission and searched for and produced documents regardless of whether they reflected well or poorly on Victoria Police or any current or former officers.
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