Simon Overland’s about-face on Lawyer X diaries

Simon Overland has sensationally contradicted evidence by Christine Nixon on Lawyer X.

Simon Overland says a diary entry indicates he told Christine Nixon that Nicola Gobbo was a police informant. Picture: AAP/David Geraghty

Former top cop Simon Overland has sensationally contradicted evidence by ex-chief police commissioner Christine Nixon that she was unaware Victoria Police was using barrister Nicola Gobbo as an informer, declaring newly discovered diaries required him to backflip on previous evidence to the Lawyer X royal commission.

Despite Mr Overland previously telling the royal commission he was unable to recall if he informed Ms Nixon about the recruitment of the high profile criminal lawyer, the former chief commissioner says a newly discovered diary entry indicated she was in fact told at the height of Melbourne’s bloody gangland wars.

“Having now reviewed my diary, I note that I was involved in 14 meetings with Ms Nixon regarding Purana Task Force matters and I believe that I did in fact inform her of Ms Gobbo’s recruitment on 29 September 2005,” he said in his supplementary statement released by the commission on Tuesday.

Former Victoria police commissioner Simon Overland leaves the Lawyer X royal commission. Picture: Aaron Francis

“I have no independent recollection of this meeting, but note the contents of my diary entry that indicate I did tell her about the registration of Ms Gobbo as a human source.”

Ms Nixon, who is the third person to have served as chief commissioner to give evidence at the royal commission, said in December that Mr Overland should have told her Ms Gobbo had been registered as an informant.

She said she was “very surprised” when Ms Gobbo was unmasked as Lawyer X in media reports the year before and originally thought the informant as another lawyer.

During his first stint in the witness stand, Mr Overland said he did not keep diaries during his time at Victoria Police.

But three were discovered by police at a facility in Laverton North in December last year after the former top cop finished giving evidence.

On Tuesday, Mr Overland apologised for “not remembering” the diaries existed.

He told the commission his diary notes indicated he told Ms Nixon that Ms Gobbo was registered as a human source.

Nicola Gobbo. Picture: ABC

“Looking at the note, it seems to me the logical inference from the note is that I told her about the fact that Ms Gobbo had been registered as an informer by the number of 3838,” he said.

“I really can’t take it much further than that because I simply don’t recall.”

Ms Gobbo, who has been ordered to give evidence at the royal commission, was a high-profile criminal defence barrister who represented underworld heavies such as Tony Mokbel at the height of Melbourne’s gangland wars.

Her tainted information was used in scores of cases to secure high-profile gangland convictions. Since the scandal emerged, one conviction has been overturned and more are expected to follow.

Mr Overland told the commission on Tuesday he felt using Ms Gobbo as a human source against the Mokbel syndicate was the “best of a bad set of options”.

“I thought that, because of the threats that were against her from Tony Mokbel … I sort of thought that the best of a bad set of options was to use her as a human source with the hope to dismantle the Mokbel syndicate, remove the threat and then manage her out of the organisation,” he said.

“That was my hope at the outset and my view was that if this was to all end happily, that was probably the only way that that could or would occur.”

The commission has previously heard that Ms Gobbo, who is living in hiding, became a human source in part to escape the thrall of Mokbel.

Mr Overland used his return to defend against allegations made during the inquiry, including accusations of “self-serving secrecy”.

“Any suggestion that my conduct at Victoria Police … was corrupt, perverted the course of justice, was dishonest or facilitated any dishonesty in the court system, or sought to cover up the use of Ms

Gobbo is completely denied by me and does not accord with my conduct as reflected in my contemporaneous diary notes,” he said.

Mr Overland served as chief commissioner of Victoria Police from 2009 until 2011, when he stood down after he released politically sensitive and disputed crime statistics on the eve of an election.

He served as assistant commissioner of crimes during Melbourne’s bloody gangland wars before becoming deputy commissioner under Ms Nixon, who served as chief commissioner from 2001 to 2009.