Victoria Police racks up $64m bill on Lawyer X saga
The state’s top cop has revealed Victoria Police racked up an eye-watering bill defending the Lawyer X case, and the saga is not over.
Victoria Police has notched up an eye-watering $64 million bill defending the Lawyer X case in what the state’s top cop concedes will result in “significant financial constraints”.
The revelation comes after a bombshell royal commission report released on Monday into the force’s use of gangland lawyer turned informer Nicola Gobbo and the police who managed her.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said on Tuesday the force spent $64 million on the case, most of it on legal costs.
“It’s an absolutely huge cost to the organisation,” Mr Patton told 3AW radio.
“A lot of this money is royal commission money, it encompasses a range of different things.”
Mr Patton said the funds came out of the police budget last year but “we will step through it”.
“I don’t think the government’s going to have a heap of cash around given the emergencies we’ve been through in recent times and the current financial environment, so it will mean significant financial constraint for us.”
Commissioner Margaret McMurdo’s findings raise the possibility Ms Gobbo and high-ranking current and former police officers could face criminal charges over the scandal.
Although the royal commission has ended, the saga is not over, as a range of civil litigation may flow as a result.
The government on Monday moved to appoint a special investigator to probe Ms Gobbo’s conduct and that of current and former police who managed her to see if laws were broken.
Mr Patton said no officers had been stood down, with that process “complicated” by the appointment of the special investigator.
“It’s a matter that will need to be worked through once that special investigator’s has been determined,” he said.
In her findings, Commissioner McMurdo slammed the police officers involved for their willingness to tolerate bending the rules to solve crimes, saying their actions corrupted the justice system.
She also found Ms Gobbo’s breach of obligations as a lawyer inexcusable.
Mr Patton said the conduct was a “profound failure” by the force and it would take time to rebuild public confidence.
“It was an indefensible interference in the lawyer-client relationship. It shouldn’t have occurred,” he said.