Simon Overland to face grilling over Lawyer X scandal
One week after he was sacked from his role at Whittlesea Council, Simon Overland is set to face a grilling at the Lawyer X royal commission to explain his part in the scandal.
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Former chief commissioner Simon Overland will take the stand today at the public inquiry into Lawyer X to explain his part in the scandal.
Spending at least two days in the witness box Mr Overland will be questioned about his time at the helm and informer 3838, Nicola Gobbo.
However, it is unlikely he will be able to refer to notes about that time, with a document obtained by the Herald Sun from May, 2009, stating he nor his predecessor, Christine Nixon kept a handwritten diary.
Last week, Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told the commission, he stopped keeping notes somewhere between 2006 and 2008, while he was a senior officer at the Office of Police Integrity.
This admission was followed by Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius, who also said he gave away diary keeping several months later.
Mr Ashton testified he learned of Gobbo’s informer status in 2007 and Mr Cornelius later.
However, records presented to them appeared to suggest they knew about Gobbo’s informing not long after she was registered as human source 3838 in 2005.
Mr Overland, during his years as a gangland and corruption busting top cop, is considered a central figure in the force’s unethical use of Gobbo as an informer.
It is understood he never met Gobbo, but both were known to have wanted to jail Tony Mokbel.
Mr Ashton has described Gobbo as the force’s “glittering prize’’.
Gobbo’s time as a registered informer was ended when she – on behalf of police – taped a former officer suspected of the underworld killings of Terry Hodson and his wife, Christine, in 2004.
Mr Overland is expected to face questions regarding claims by detectives that Victoria Police high command stymied their investigations into the killings of the Hodsons.
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It is also likely to be quizzed on why Gobbo was excused from coercive questioning in 2006 and her demanded compensation of $20 million.
Mr Overland’s appearance comes one week after he was sacked from his role as chief executive of Whittlesea Council.
A monitor was installed to oversee the local government area following his abrupt departure after councils voted to sack him in a closed meeting.
Mr Overland had one year remaining on his contract for which he was due to be paid $400,000.