Lawyer X inquiry: Former Victorian top cop Simon Overland accepts some responsibility for Gobbo

Former police commissioner says he doesn't recall a ‘bomb’ document raising concerns about the use of Lawyer X.

Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland. Picture: James Ross/AAP

Simon Overland accepts partial responsibility for the “Lawyer X” controversy but says it is up to a royal commission to decide whether his underlings had “failed” Victoria Police in their handling of barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo.

The royal commission also heard that Victoria Police had on Friday discovered three unknown diaries that appear to belong to Mr Overland, dating from 2003, 2004 and 2007, found inside a box at an archive facility.

The inquiry heard that after a quick examination, the diaries appeared to contain “very innocuous entries”. Mr Overland had previously said he did not take notes or keep a diary during the time of Ms Gobbo’s informing.

Victoria’s former top cop told the commission on Friday he was aware of fears of prosecutions being put at risk and a potential inquiry into Victoria Police’s use Ms Gobbo as an informer, but couldn’t remember reading a document described as a “bomb” that detailed these concerns.

After conceding that he wished he had “done more”, Mr Overland said he could not explain why handlers and investigators had received information from Ms Gobbo about her clients.

“It is anathema to me to think that serious organised criminals may have their convictions overturned because of irregularity in police procedures,” Mr Overland said. “It’s not what I’ve stood for all of my life, it’s not what I’ve worked to achieve.

“I understand from a command point of view that I have to accept some of the responsibility for that.”

He said the use of Ms Gobbo was a “significant issue” — but it was one of many he was dealing with during his time with Victoria Police.

“There’s always cause for reflection and there’s always cause to say, ‘Maybe I should have paid a bit more attention to that’,” he said. “But at the time, I believed that my investigators and the SDU … were very senior people, they were very experienced people, I assumed they knew what they were doing.

“I assumed that they were acting consistent with my belief it was commonly understood that she wouldn’t breach legal professional privilege, and she wouldn’t act for people against whom she was informing.”

Asked by counsel assisting the commission Chris Winneke QC if he was “sheeting home blame to your inferior officers”, Mr Overland said: “No I’m not.”

Mr Winneke asked: “You're really suggesting that they were aware of your concerns but ultimately they failed you?”

Mr Overland replied: “Well, I've always said I believed they were aware of my concerns, I'll leave it for others to judge whether they've failed Victoria Police or not, that's not my role.”

He also denied he had engaged in a “cover up” and rejected the proposition that if the concerns in the document “had any basis in fact” it would have meant that he would not have become the chief commissioner two months later.

Mr Overland told the royal commission he would likely remember reading the “significant” concerns raised by senior members of the Source Development Unit in January 2009, but had no recollection of doing so.

At the time, he was a deputy commissioner and sat on a steering committee to which the document was to be provided. He had also been interviewed for the chief commissioner position.

Mr Overland rejected the proposition that the document was “in effect a bomb” that could “potentially make your position and your potential position as chief commissioner of Police in Victoria untenable”.

But he said he was aware that members of the SDU were concerned about the potential for judicial inquiries and convictions to be set aside.

“My understanding of the risk was around the general proposition of having used a barrister as a human source,” Mr Overland said. “And I always understood there were issues, legal issues associated with that and that that may well be an issue at trial.”

The commission will resume in January.