Cops to face the music on Lawyer X

Police will face questions about what Lawyer X disclosed about Faruk Orman, who walked free.

Convicted gangland figure Faruk Orman walks from the Supreme Court after being acquitted. Picture: Alex Coppel

Senior police are expected to face tough questions this week about what informant Nicola Gobbo, known as Lawyer X, disclosed about her dealings with Faruk Orman and a key witness that implicated him in a gangland murder, after his conviction was overturned.

Mr Orman, 37, walked from a Melbourne court a free man on Friday, having spent 12 years in prison for his role in the 2002 murder of Victor Peirce.

Victoria’s Court of Appeal found that he had been the victim of a “substantial miscarriage of justice” — and prosecutors conceded that it would be “unjust” to order a retrial — after it had been revealed he had been betrayed by Ms Gobbo, who had been retained as his lawyer throughout the case.

The development has plunged Victoria Police deeper into crisis and paved the way for possible appeals over dozens of criminal cases tainted by the force’s decision to employ the high-profile barrister as an ­informant who turned on her ­clients.

It also comes as Victoria’s Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants resumes tomorrow, exploring the interactions between Victoria Police and Ms Gobbo during her period of registration as a source between September 2005 and January 2009.

Among those due to appear are James O’Brien, the former head of Victoria’s Purana anti-gangland taskforce, and former detective inspector Gavan Ryan, who played an integral role in the investigation into convicted murderer and drug trafficker Carl Williams, who was murdered inside Barwon Prison in 2010.

Mr Orman was 20 at the time of the Peirce murder and was convicted in 2009 by a jury that found he drove the gunman, Andrew “Benji” Veniamin, to the murder scene.

The High Court last year described Victoria Police’s use of Ms Gobbo to inform on her clients as “reprehensible”, sparking the Victorian government to order a royal commission.

Legal experts have claimed that Mr Orman, who says he faced torturous conditions inside jail, including periods of isolation, could be entitled to millions of dollars in compensation.

The first conviction to be overturned in the wake of the Lawyer X scandal raises serious questions about the convictions and sentences handed to some of Australia’s most notorious criminals during the height of Melbourne’s gangland war.

Other prisoners appealing their convictions include drug baron Tony Mokbel, his associates Zlate Cvetanovski and Rob Karam, and others convicted over the infamous “Tomato Tins” ecstasy importation scheme.