No courage in convictions: More Gobbo clients told of legal doubts

State and federal prosecutors have warned more than 40 former clients of lawyer-turned-police informer Nicola Gobbo their criminal convictions could have been tainted.

It comes as the royal commission investigating Ms Gobbo's duplicitous role as Informer 3838 revealed it had compiled a master list of 1297 people whose cases could have been impacted bt the supergrass.

The people on the master list were either advised or represented by Ms Gobbo when she was a barrister and police informer, but the commission is yet to ascertain if their cases have been affected.

Nicola Gobbo.Credit: ABC

The revelation came on the last day of public hearings probing Ms Gobbo's role. The inquiry has held 127 public hearings, hearing from 81 witnesses, received another 120 statements and produced more than 145,000 documents, mostly from Victoria Police.

Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd has told 32 people their cases may have been impacted, while 12 people have received notifications from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. The actual number of contaminated cases will not be known for some time.

Six of Ms Gobbo's former clients have taken their cases to the Victoria Court of Appeal so far. Two have failed.

But Faruk Orman, who spent 12 years behind bars for a gangland murder, walked free when his conviction was quashed last year.

Another three cases, involving drug traffickers Tony Mokbel, Rob Karam and Zlate Cvetanovski, remain before the court.

In addition to determining which cases have been tainted, the royal commission could recommend charges against Ms Gobbo and police officers when its final report is handed down in July.

Lawyers connected to the commission say charges are likely and will arise from the inquiry's centrepiece case, involving a drug cook who cannot be identified.

Ms Gobbo was working for the police as a supergrass when she represented the drug cook. She gave police information about her client’s drug laboratory and then proceeded to act as his lawyer.

The police involved, who knew about Ms Gobbo's role, will be of particular focus.

One of the last witnesses before the inquiry on Friday was serving police Inspector John Nolan.

Inspector Nolan is now based in Mildura, but he was a director at the Office of Police Integrity when current Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton was the deputy head of the corruption watchdog.

Lead lawyer for the commission, Chris Winneke, QC, asked Inspector Nolan what he thought of Victoria Police command publicly maintaining that Ms Gobbo’s use was necessary during the extraordinary gangland war.

“[It] can’t be justified,” Inspector Nolan said.

Mr Winneke pointed to a recent radio interview with Mr Ashton in the last fortnight in which he said Ms Gobbo's use as an informer "passed the pub test".

"It’s either corrupt or it’s not," Inspector Nolan replied.

The commission will hold further public hearings in April examining Victoria Police's current policies on managing informers.

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo said the inquiry was also conducting a targeted audit of Victoria Police files on informers in the legal industry.