At 2.20pm, Gobbo asked: "If Mr Winneke is going to keep (asking questions) can I please take some more pain killers?" And with that, Gobbo is done with evidence for the day. @theheraldsun #LawyerX
— Genevieve Alison (@GenevieveAlison) February 4, 2020
Lawyer X royal commission: Nicola Gobbo 'couldn't say no' to powerful men
Nicola Gobbo told the Lawyer X royal commission she was targeted by “powerful” and “predatory” police officers and "couldn't say no" when they manipulated her into informing on her employer and clients.
Nicola Gobbo became one of the most prolific informers in Victoria Police’s history because she couldn’t “say no” to a series of powerful, manipulative men, she says.
On the first day of her long-awaited evidence into the legal crisis that threatens to overturn dozens of gangland convictions, Gobbo revealed she misled the Supreme Court to gain entry into the legal fraternity and began snitching to police soon after.
Gobbo, dubbed Lawyer X, claimed on Tuesday she was targeted by “powerful” and “predatory” police officers who manipulated her into providing information on her employer and clients when she was a naive, young barrister.
During the first of her four days of testimony before the royal commission into the scandal, Gobbo was quizzed on her conduct in the decade from 1993 in the lead-up to Melbourne’s tit-for-tat underbelly murders. She was again registered as an informer from 2005-09 during the height of the gangland wars.
Gobbo said she was approached by corrupt drug squad detective Wayne Strawhorn in 1998, who was investigating claims of money laundering and fraud by her former boss.
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Strawhorn soon introduced Gobbo to other officers, including Jeff Pope who would later rise to assistant commissioner, and was registered as an informer in May 1999.
Lead counsel Chris Winneke QC asked her why she willingly became an informer so soon into her legal career. Gobbo answered: “Um, because I found saying no very difficult, particularly to someone like Wayne Strawhorn.”
Gobbo, who gave evidence via telephone while hiding her face, said she was again seduced in 2002 by another officer, Peter De Santo, who was investigating Strawhorn and corruption in the drug squad.
“I know it may sound pathetic to say, but you know he had the ability to … (make) me feel important,” she said.
Gobbo was quizzed about socialising with her criminal clients, saying she would attend weekly dinners with Tony Mokbel and his brothers to quell questions from the extended Mokbel clan.
“I was being driven insane with each person from his family or his extended family ringing and asking the same question,” she said.
She said she met Carl Williams for the first time in Port Phillip prison when he and Mokbel were serving time together in 2002.
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A year later she attended the christening of Williams’ daughter Dhakota at Crown casino. “A whole table of lawyers went. I was the only one stupid enough to make a speech though,” she said.
Gobbo, who is no longer a practising lawyer, remains on the register of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Eminent barrister Phil Dunn QC told the Herald Sun Gobbo needed to be officially struck from practising law.
The Herald Sun understands the Bar Council is considering this issue.
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She described De Santo as a "Svengali" like figure, a "master manipulator" and very good investigator.
She said De Santo had a way of making her "feel important and no doubt buffered my self esteem in a similar way to Wayne Strawhorn."
Ms Gobbo said she started representing Carl Williams in 2003 and at times socialised with him and his family.
Mr Winneke: "You must've known him reasonably well then because you attended his daughter's christening."
Ms Gobbo: "A whole table of lawyers went. I was the only one stupid enough to make a speech though."
She said she also met with Carl and his father George for coffee catch ups.
"I had a couple of occasions where I can recall where I met them for coffee during the day time. I don't recall any kind of evening … nothing like nightclubs which they were doing with other lawyers."
Gobbo at Dhakota's christening
Ms Gobbo said she started representing Carl Williams in 2003 and at times socialised with him and his family.
Mr Winneke: "You must've known him reasonably well then because you attended his daughter's christening."
Ms Gobbo: "A whole table of lawyers went. I was the only one stupid enough to make a speech though."
She said she also met with Carl and his father George for coffee catch ups.
"I had a couple of occasions where I can recall where I met them for coffee during the day time. I don't recall any kind of evening … nothing like nightclubs which they were doing with other lawyers."
Ms Gobbo said that when Tony Mokbel was in jail around 2002, she would have a weekly dinner with his brothers.
"What eventually came about was a weekly early dinner time catch up with his brothers, because otherwise I was being driven insane, each person from his extended family ringing and asking the same questions."
She also represented Tony's brothers Milad and Horty and Horty's wife Zaharoula.
She said she originally came to represent Tony after other lawyers had ripped him off.
"Tony Mokbel had gone through lots of lawyers who had charged him a fortune and ripped him blind, just taken money from him and done nothing."
Dinner with the Mokbels
Ms Gobbo said that when Tony Mokbel was in jail around 2002, she would have a weekly dinner with his brothers.
"What eventually came about was a weekly early dinner time catch up with his brothers, because otherwise I was being driven insane, each person from his extended family ringing and asking the same questions."
She also represented Tony's brothers Milad and Horty and Horty's wife Zaharoula.
She said she originally came to represent Tony after other lawyers had ripped him off.
"Tony Mokbel had gone through lots of lawyers who had charged him a fortune and ripped him blind, just taken money from him and done nothing."