By Erin Pearson and Brittany Busch
Two police officers who took part in a “joint criminal enterprise” with Lawyer X to manipulate a witness, according to a court finding, are fighting to keep their names a secret.
This masthead is fighting the suppression order. Lawyer Marcus Hoyne, representing this and other news outlets, said the public interest in the disclosure of the names of the police officers was overwhelming.
The officers’ lawyer, Renee Enbom, KC, said her clients, who have not faced criminal charges, had been deprived of procedural fairness during a recent court hearing as no one put to them the allegations they had broken the law.
Tony Mokbel being led into court on in November.Credit: AAP
This, she said, deprived the witnesses of the ability to defend their reputations, and the publication of their names would therefore prejudice the administration of justice.
The court heard the officers intended to rely on psychiatric evidence supporting their case and the “significant” harm she said would be caused if publication was allowed.
But drug kingpin Tony Mokbel’s barrister, Julie Condon, KC, said she had asked at least one of the officers whether they were part of a plan to use Nicola Gobbo, otherwise known as Lawyer X, as a double agent, which they denied.
Last month, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton found police had taken part in a “joint criminal enterprise” to pervert the course of justice when they used barrister-turned-informer Gobbo to bring down Mokbel.
The court heard the findings of corrupt conduct came out of a meeting at the St Kilda Road police station between Gobbo, four police officers and a man known as Mr Cooper, who had been a drug cook for Mokbel’s syndicate.
There, the court heard, a plan was formed to use Gobbo to help “roll” Mr Cooper, who was her client. Eventually, Mr Cooper was encouraged to plead guilty and provide evidence against Mokbel.
Justice David Beach questioned why the two police officers requested certificates to indemnify themselves from any prosecution regarding the evidence they gave to the court, if they were not already concerned they might incriminate themselves.
He said both officers had entered the witness box knowing they would be asked questions that put them at risk of charges.
“[This was an] omnishambles brought about by improper acts in secret,” Beach said.
“What’s more likely to prejudice the administration of justice? If I redact critical parts, the public might well say, ‘What are we now being denied knowledge of?’
“Isn’t there an equal problem with the reputation of the administration of justice?”
Mokbel appeared at the hearing in the Court of Appeal via video link from Barwon Prison, dressed in a black suit, collared white shirt and striped blue tie.
Nicola Gobbo with then-client Tony Mokbel outside a court in 2004.Credit: Nine News
The Lawyer X case is the strongest indication yet that Mokbel, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence, could succeed in having his convictions quashed.
Fullerton – a NSW judge who heard the case to avoid conflict-of-interest concerns in a scandal that has plagued the entire Victorian justice system for more than 15 years – described Gobbo’s role in the Lawyer X scandal as “a fundamental and deliberate breach of her ethical and [professional] obligations as a lawyer”.
Beach will hand down his decision on Wednesday.
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