Lawyer X in Mokbel sister act

Nicola Gobbo helped police in a fraud case against Zaharoula Mokbel when briefed to defend her on the charges.

Zaharoula Mokbel leaves the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Nicola Gobbo secretly helped Victoria Police bolster a fraud case against Mokbel crime family member Zaharoula Mokbel when briefed to defend her on the ­charges.

The Lawyer X royal commission was told the egregious breach of Ms Gobbo’s duties to her client perverted the course of justice and should have resulted in charges being dropped.

The case against Ms Mokbel, the sister-in-law of Tony Mokbel, was part of a large-scale investi­gation by the Purana taskforce into how the drugs cartel hid its wealth amassed during Melbourne’s gangland war.

In December 2009, Ms Mokbel was convicted in the Victorian County Court of three counts of obtaining a financial benefit by deception and sentenced to 2½ years’ jail. The sentence was ­wholly suspended.

The case was based on three fraudulent loan applications totalling $2.3 million. They were made in Ms Mokbel’s name between 2002 and 2005, when the Mokbel family was heavily involved in the importation, manufacture and sale of illicit drugs.

In the applications, Ms Mokbel variously claimed to be a self-­employed petrol station owner earning $250,000 a year, a state manager for petroleum company Zenith Oil and an employee of Roadstar Enterprises earning $130,000 a month.

Ms Gobbo’s previously unknown role working both ends of the bar table emerged as counsel assisting the royal commission, Chris Winneke QC, questioned one of her police handlers for a seventh day in the witness box.

Police documents tendered to the commission revealed that in February 2007, when Ms Mokbel was first charged, Ms Gobbo was briefed to act as her barrister and reviewed the evidence.

At the same time, Ms Gobbo used her access to the brief of evidence to provide unsolicited ­advice to police about weaknesses in the case. Notes taken by her handlers showed this information was passed on to Purana boss Jim O’Brien. Shortly before Ms Mokbel’s committal hearing, Ms Gobbo provided to her handler further advice on how to strengthen the police case. This was again relayed to a Purana detective.

Sandy White, a former member of the now-disbanded Source Development Unit that managed Ms Gobbo as a registered informant, has previously told the commission the SDU did not disseminate any information provided by Ms Gobbo that was subject to legal professional privilege.

He told the hearing he was concerned to see this had happened. “It is very surprising and it is inconsistent with how we were operating at the time,” he said.

Mr White said although his name was on the SDU paperwork relating to information Ms Gobbo provided about Ms Mokbel, he could not recall the episode.

Mr Winneke said Ms Gobbo’s double-dealing had perverted the course of justice and the charges against Ms Mokbel should have been abandoned. “This sort of conduct both on the part of Ms Gobbo and the SDU has the real potential to undermine the system of criminal justice, doesn’t it?” Mr Winneke asked.

“It does,” said Mr White.

The hearing continues.