Zlate Cvetanovski’s drug trial a ‘serious miscarriage of justice’
Tony Mokbel’s “money man” is set to have his convictions overturned after spending more than a decade behind bars. Zlate Cvetanovski says a pivotal witness against him was turned by Lawyer X.
Police & Courts
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Tony Mokbel’s “money man” — who spent more than a decade in prison after being duped by barrister turned informer Nicola Gobbo — is set to have his criminal convictions overturned.
Zlate “Steve” Cvetanovski, who spent nine years in jail for drug trafficking and financial deception, will likely next week become the second man to have his convictions quashed due to the Lawyer X scandal.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd QC is understood to have conceded his 2011 prosecution was a serious miscarriage of justice due to payments made to a ‘’pivotal’’ witness against him.
Cvetanovski, who in May was released from prison on bail pending his appeal, will now sue the police for damages.
In July last year Faruk Orman walked free from the Supreme Court after Gobbo’s duplicity as both a defence lawyer and police informer was exposed.
It is also understood all cases surrounding Purana taskforce Operation Posse – the first anti-gangland sting which used Gobbo as informer 3838 – are in jeopardy because of secret payments made by police into the jail account of the pivotal witness, known as “Mr Cooper”.
The operation targeting the Mokbels used Gobbo to turn Mr Cooper, who was a Mokbel drug cook, into a supergrass while portraying she was representing as his lawyer.
The evidence Mr Cooper gave landed multiple convictions, including Cvetanovski’s.
Mr Cooper made in excess of 40 police statements after being duped by Gobbo, which helped implode the Mokbel drug empire.
The 2006 police operation focused on gaining convictions against Cvetanovski, Milad Mokbel, Frank Ahec, Karl Khoder and two other illicit drug manufacturers “rolled” by police.
Those two men implicated the Mokbels, including Tony, and their network, in drug crimes.
Gobbo had singled out Mokbel’s drug cook, Mr Cooper, to police from the outset after her recruitment as informer 3838 as being “vulnerable” if pressure was applied to him.
Mr Cooper was her client who considered her his “best” friend.
Both have denied they were in a sexual relationship or became engaged.
Upon his arrest on April 22, 2006, Mr Cooper was convinced by Gobbo and detectives at the St Kilda Road Police Complex to “roll” and within days wore a wire to incriminate his associates, including Cvetanovski.
Mr Cooper was unaware Gobbo, his lawyer, had manipulated him as a registered police informer.
After incriminating Cvetanovski and others, arrests were made on April 26, 2006.
The Purana detectives involved in arresting, charging and prosecuting the Mokbel crew, including Mr Cooper and Cvetanovski, kept Gobbo’s role a secret knowing she was legally representing them.
“Gobbo’s treatment of (Mr Cooper) exemplifies the most extreme breach of her professional duties to her client, and was done with the encouragement, direction and support of the police,” lawyers for Cvetanovski state.
While Mr Cooper was in jail, his co-operation was rewarded.
Gobbo paid money into his prison bank account before police took over.
Police deposited the money into Mr Cooper’s prison account under his sister’s name.
Mr Cooper was given other rewards for his co-operation.
Barrister Michael Pena-Rees came close to exposing Gobbo’s role in Mr Cooper’s co-operation with police and his relationship with Gobbo during a 2011 trial.
Mr Pena-Rees posed questions about Gobbo’s co-operation with police “in relation to certain matters involving the Mokbels” at the 2011 trial before County Court Judge Jim Montgomery.
But Gobbo’s police informer role as agent provocateur was not disclosed to the court.
The then acting Director of Public Prosecutions, John Champion QC, who was the prosecutor, objected to the cross-examination.
Unaware Gobbo was in fact a police informer, Mr Champion considered calling her to the stand.
It led to a meeting Mr Champion held in chambers on April 11, 2011, with two Purana taskforce detectives involved in the case.
Those two officers Dale Flynn and Craig Hayes were aware of Gobbo’s informer status.
Both have testified to the Lawyer X royal commission they did not tell Mr Champion that Gobbo was a registered police informer who had helped turn Mr Cooper into a snitch.
But it is also believed a third police officer was at the meeting – who was from the Source Development Unit (SDU) handling Gobbo as an informer.
No explanation has been given about this scenario, or why the SDU officer attended.
Documents also suggest Justice Champion gained a deeper knowledge in the months after the Cvetanovski trial about Gobbo’s close relationship with police.
Former assistant commissioner Doug Fryer has outlined his belief Mr Champion knew of Gobbo’s informer status before meeting him about it in June, 2012.
“Going into the meeting, I believed that Ms Gobbo’s role would be a surprise to the DPP, but it was not,” he stated to the Lawyer X royal commission.
“Mr Champion advised me that he was already aware of this because he had already prosecuted a trial in 2011 where Ms Gobbo’s role had been revealed and discussed with the trial judge. He said the accused was Cvetanovski.”
To date, no judiciary member, be it a judge or a lawyer, has been found to have knowledge of Gobbo’s doublecrossing while prosecuting a case.
Members of the judiciary cannot be compelled to give evidence.
There is, however, widespread speculation within the legal community that key prosecutors became aware of the Gobbo issue.
Crown Prosecutor Jeff Horgan has denied he knew about Gobbo’s status during a period in which he prosecuted gangland players, such as Carl Williams.
Police involved in the Operation Posse tactics of using Gobbo to turn her client, Mr Cooper, into a police snitch against other clients could face charges, including perverting the course of justice.
Gobbo could also face charges.
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