Lawyer X: Royal Commissioner Margaret McMurdo blasts ‘unsatisfactory’ Victoria Police delays

Police have been asked up to 12 times for vital Lawyer X documents and statements and the Commissioner is fed up.

Royal Commission Chair Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC has again castigated Victoria police for delays. Picture: Supplied

Victoria Police have again been criticised by a royal commissioner for the “unsatisfactory” delivery of documents and statements – many of which were requested eight months ago – over the use of “Lawyer X” Nicola Gobbo as an informer.

Royal Commissioner Margaret McMurdo on Wednesday said there were 10 overdue “priority” statements, as well as a further 34 that have been requested, in some cases, “more than a dozen times”.

“I am publicly mentioning the current unsatisfactory aspects of Victoria Police's provision of material to the royal commission today,” Ms McMurdo said.

“I think the quickest way to do it will be for me to go through the matters and I'll mention what we've been provided so far by Victoria Police by way of explanation and (Victoria Police’s legal team) can add to it if needs be.”

READ MORE: Lawyer X case costs cops $7.6m | Concerns about how Gobbo was ‘managed’ | No excuse for Gobbo not to appear: Commissioner | Victoria police withheld documents in breach of orders |

In some cases, according to Victoria Police’s lawyers, statements have been prepared but the commission has yet to provide subpoenas. In others, the statements were to be finalised in the coming weeks.

Ms McMurdo said she wanted to finish hearing evidence about the number of cases affected by Ms Gobbo’s role as a barrister-turned police informer and the conduct of her handlers before Christmas.

Repeated requests

“The reason I'm doing this is because it's our expectation that all witnesses and all evidence relevant to Term of Reference 1 and 2 will be completed by 20 December and we can't do this without (the) statements,” she said.

“In addition to those priority statements, a further 34 statements of current informant Victoria Police officers remain overdue, some outstanding since March 2019, and some have been requested more than a dozen times. Victoria Police are regularly informed of this in weekly reminders from the commission.”

Barrister Renee Enbom SC, representing Victoria Police, told the commission that more than 100 statements have already been provided over the past year and “those witness statements are not short”.

“The exercise for producing one witness statement is time consuming and difficult because it requires usually multiple conferences,” Ms Enbom said. “So we've conferred with … more than 100 people multiple times.”

Ms McMurdo said 100 statements in a year did not seem that difficult for police “who are used to making statements as part of their job”.

“Look, we could stand here arguing but the fact remains, we're finishing hearing evidence on these matters at the end of December and until last night there were 11 priority statements and a further 35 other statements still outstanding and they've been requested, many of them, since March,” she said.

Ms Enbom said police were “working around the clock” to help the commission.

“It has taken a significant toll on the people working on those statements and we are continuing to work around the clock, seven days a week, 12 hours a day. We can't do any more, commissioner,” Ms Enbom said.