Tony Mokbel avoids cocaine importation retrial
A perplexed-looking Tony Mokbel has watched on as a bizarre court hearing unfolded around him.
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Big wig Tony Mokbel will not face retrial over the cocaine importation he was once convicted over while on the run, even though a top prosecutor wants one ordered just for the record.
Mokbel, dressed in a black suit, grey shirt and dark tie appeared perplexed as he watched the bizarre hearing before the Court of Appeal on Monday from a room inside Barwon prison.
The court heard Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Sarah McNaughton, SC, wants a retrial ordered even though she concedes she will not retry the gangland drug lord.
Mokbel’s conviction over the importation of 2.9kg of cocaine from Mexico was quashed in December last year after Ms McNaughton conceded the case due to the Lawyer X scandal.
But Ms McNaughton is arguing against his acquittal by the court due to the actions of Lawyer X — aka Nicola Gobbo — who was his barrister while also acting as a police informer against him.
Mokbel has served the entirety of his maximum 12-year jail term over the conviction and cannot be punished further.
Appearing for the DPP, Rowena Orr QC, argued the evidence against Mokbel over the cocaine importation was ‘’overwhelming’’ and an acquittal sent the wrong message even though his sentence had expired.
‘‘It cannot be just about punishment. It must be about guilt or otherwise,’’ Ms Orr said.
“The director must consider public interest factors.
“The ultimate goal is to assess whether a jury would convict the appellant.”
“It confirms to the community that, where there is sufficient evidence to retry the appellant for very serious offending, it is not impossible for the appellant to receive a fair trial in the future.”
Mokbel’s lawyer, Bret Walker SC, argued the court should enter an acquittal.
Mr Walker described the actions of Gobbo as ‘’wicked’ and urged the court to condemn them.
Mokbel made national headlines after failing to appear in the Supreme Court in March, 2006, just before his bail was to be revoked as the trial reached an end.
With the help of associates, he escaped to Bonnie Doon in country Victoria and months later travelled across the Nullarbor to Western Australia to board a yacht – the Edwena – to sail to Greece.
After his capture in 2007, Mokbel, in 2008, was flown back to Melbourne on a private jet by authorities to face a raft of charges, including two murder raps.
Although Mokbel was never convicted of murder, he pleaded guilty to a series of other major drug trafficking charges.
Mokbel is currently appealing his convictions in the hope of walking
free from his 22-year minimum jail sentence.
Gobbo acted as Mokbel’s go-to barrister from Valentine’s Day 2002
until at least 2007.
She was his junior counsel in the 2006 cocaine trial – only months after being registered as a Victoria Police informer 3838.
Gobbo also gave Mokbel advice after he was captured by Australian Federal Police in Greece in June, 2007, as attempted to avoid extradition.
Mokbel’s earliest release date is 2033, but he could be re-sentenced.
Gobbo continued to have contact with Mokbel while he was imprisoned at
Barwon jail from 2008.
The Court of Appeal adjourned the case to a later date where it will
hand down its decision.
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