Law firm’s database bungle left crucial Lawyer X documents lying hidden

A database blunder by Victoria Police’s top-tier lawyers prevented hundreds of crucial documents from being provided to the royal commission on police informers and contributed to delays and cost blowouts in the civil case of a man suing the force over the Nicola Gobbo scandal.

The bungle by Corrs Chambers Westgarth included details of Gobbo’s request for part of a $100,000 reward in a murder case, a controversial plan to obtain evidence against underworld figure Mick Gatto and 30,000 potentially relevant emails.

Former barrister and police informer Nicola Gobbo.

The revelation is expected to fuel concerns over the government’s contentious decision to introduce legislation that would limit the state’s civil liability concerning cases arising from the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants.

While the Allan government insists the new law would reduce the financial burden on taxpayers, the opposition and several lawyers involved in ongoing civil trials claim the main objective of the legislation is to avoid further scrutiny of police misconduct.

The State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Bill is due to be reintroduced to parliament this week and if enacted would derail a case launched by Faruk Orman in 2020, after his murder conviction was quashed because Gobbo had been a registered police informer while also acting as his lawyer.

Orman’s case was due to go to trial in February, but was delayed when Corrs Chambers Westgarth admitted it had failed to find hundreds of documents on a database it owns and operates on behalf of Victoria Police.

Faruk Orman after being released from jail in July 2019.Credit: Eddie Jim

Law firm partner Daniel Marquet conceded in an affidavit that “email searches were mistakenly run across a database that contained only a subset of emails from the in-boxes of the relevant Victoria Police members”.

“After using the original search terms and some expanded date ranges and keywords, approximately 30,000 emails that had not previously been reviewed were identified as potentially relevant,” Marquet stated in court documents.

The problem was identified only in August last year, and the documents have since been provided to Orman’s lawyers.

Many, which were also never furnished to the royal commission, relate to the police case against Orman over the 2002 murder of underworld figure Victor Peirce, for which he served 12 years in jail before his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Mick Gatto and Orman.Credit: Nine

The documents included details of a plan by Purana taskforce detectives, known as “Phase Three”, to pressure Orman into testifying against underworld figure Mick Gatto over his alleged involvement in Peirce’s murder and the killing of fruit and vegetable wholesaler Frank Benvenuto in 2000. Gatto was never charged over the gangland murders and The Age does not suggest he had any involvement.

Police repeatedly tried to coerce Orman to “roll over” based on information from Gobbo and senior prison staff, including targeting his family and placing him in unsanitary conditions while in custody, according to the documents belatedly discovered by Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

The documents also reveal police paid for travel and gifts for the wife of an underworld figure who gave crucial evidence against Orman at his trial in 2009. Gobbo had also represented the underworld figure. Other emails, which were never sighted by the royal commission, included a request by Gobbo for a share of the $100,000 reward for her help in solving Peirce’s murder.

The Age can also reveal concerns about evidence given by a veteran police officer during an ongoing appeal by underworld kingpin Tony Mokbel against his convictions for drug trafficking. Superintendent Boris Buick, who has been a police officer for more than 30 years, led the investigation by the Purana taskforce that resulted in Orman’s murder conviction in 2009.

In March, Buick was repeatedly warned by Justice Elizabeth Fullerton over evidence he gave – much of it relating to the Orman investigation – after he was provided with a certificate that conferred legal privilege against self-incrimination.

“I’d propose to remind the witness that the certificate which I’ve granted him does not extend to him giving deliberately false evidence in these proceedings,” Fullerton told Buick on March 20.

Fullerton warned “it may be necessary for me to take the matter further”.

“I have very grave concerns that this witness is giving truthful evidence before me,” she said.

Buick is expected to be a key witness next year at Orman’s civil trial, unless parliament passes the State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Bill beforehand.

He could also be required to testify in a long-running Supreme Court case initiated by Gobbo over the force’s failure to protect her identity as a supergrass, if the case proceeds to trial in October.

In an interview with The Age, Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said Victoria Police had learnt only from the media about the existence of the bill aimed at quashing the lawsuits.

“We didn’t have input into that bill being drafted. I’ve never been briefed on it,” Patton said.

“We’ve obviously been in litigation with a number of people leading into it and we were acting in good faith as a model litigant, as we’re supposed to do. The government brought a bill in; that’s a matter for them.”

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton.Credit: Paul Jeffers

Patton said Victoria Police “disclose everything that is relevant to a case” and he had full confidence in the lawyers working on the cases, including Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

“I’ve not had anything reported to me that the lawyers had done anything wrong. I have full confidence in them.”

Patton also noted that no criminal or disciplinary charges have ever been laid against a Victoria Police officer in relation to the Lawyer X matter.

A Corrs Chambers Westgarth spokesman denied it had failed to provide documents to the royal commission.

“It is important to clarify that all documents relevant to the royal commission were identified, reviewed and provided to the royal commission at the relevant time (between 2019 and 2020).

“In relation to the specific subsequent matter of Faruk Orman v the State and Nicola Gobbo, some documents relevant to issues in that proceeding were initially not identified but were subsequently identified and provided,” the spokesman said.

Victoria Police was served with 250 notices to produce during the royal commission. Commissioner Margaret McMurdo repeatedly criticised the force’s obstructionist approach to the provision of documents.

“Victoria Police’s frequent failure to produce documents in a timely and comprehensive manner, together with its, at times, narrow view of and obdurate approach to the scope of notices to produce, unnecessarily diverted the commission’s attention and impeded the inquiry,” McMurdo said in her findings.

Orman’s solicitor, Jeremy King, raised concerns about Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s conduct, in an affidavit last November.

“The First Defendant’s [State of Victoria] past and continuing conduct in the provision of discovery has resulted in excessive delay, costs and significant unfairness to the plaintiff [Orman] in prosecuting his claim,” King said.

He said the case was originally due to go to trial in September 2022, but Corrs Chambers Westgarth had taken more than two years to hand over relevant documents – in 18 tranches of discovery.

Solicitor Ruth Parker, who acted for Orman during the Court of Appeal hearing, also criticised the vast amounts of public money spent on defending the force from civil proceedings.

“I would be interested to know, if we’re talking about figures, how much the State of Victoria has paid Corrs to litigate these Lawyer X matters over the last five years.

“Because my expectation is that Corrs has replaced their former biggest client, the Catholic Church, with Victoria Police. The difference is the Catholic Church actually pays compensation,” Parker said.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.