Lawyer X: Tony Mokbel offsider Zlate Cvetanovski freed from jail

One of Tony Mokbel’s money men and drug traffickers is out of jail over the likelihood of an unsound verdict due to Lawyer X.

Zlate Cvetanovski leaves Loddon Prison in Victoria on bail on Tuesday. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

A legal jailbreak for five of Australia’s biggest drug dealers — including Tony Mokbel, Rob Karam and Frank Madafferi — could be triggered within six months by the Lawyer X scandal.

The convicted kingpins’ chances of beating decades-long jail terms were boosted on Tuesday when the Court of Appeal freed Mokbel lieutenant Zlate Cvetanovski on bail because of his ­betrayal at the hands of barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo.

The five have lodged appeals in the Victorian Supreme Court and lawyers believe while each case is different, the door is widening for their release this year, in a move that would pitch the Victorian justice system and Victoria Police into an even deeper crisis.

Tuesday’s decision to free Cvetanovski, pending appeal, followed the quashing of Faruk Orman’s murder conviction last year after it emerged Ms Gobbo convinced a key gangland witness to give evidence against him.

Solicitor Ruth Parker, from Galbally Parker, represented both Orman and Cvetanovski. She said the two cases were a boost to others appealing convictions and jail sentences. “Cases such as these will provide encouragement to those whose proceedings were affected as a result of the behaviour of Nicola Gobbo and the Victoria Police,” she told The Australian.

“It will also be of comfort that the courts will consider matters where individuals raise such important issues, which go to the heart of the criminal justice system, with fairness and objectivity.

“The behaviour of Nicola Gobbo and the Victoria Police has been described by the High Court as debased and now it is up to those of us working in this space to try and balance the scales and bring the matters back before the courts for review.”

Outside Loddon Prison on Tuesday, Cvetanovski said he would celebrate his first night of freedom quietly with his family after 11 years behind bars.

 

“These past 14 years have been very difficult for me, particularly for my family,” he said. “I say 14 years because this nightmare started in 2006 when I became a target (of) Nicola Gobbo.”

It is understood Mokbel’s legal team is still waiting to receive ­material from Victoria Police, some of which was requested as long ago as 2015, as it prepares the former drug baron’s appeal.

Mokbel failed in a bid to overturn his 30-year sentence for drug trafficking in 2013 but convicted criminals have the right to a second appeal if fresh and compelling evidence emerges, under state laws passed in November 2019.

Convicted drug dealers Jan Visser and Saverio Zirilli are among the five appealing convictions because of Lawyer X. Both were jailed over their roles in the “tomato tins” ecstasy gang. Karam and Madafferi were convicted over the same importation.

Ms Parker said each potential appeal was factually different and Ms Gobbo’s involvement differed between them. “However, it does expose … very serious concerns regarding the safety and fairness of criminal convictions which came about because of Ms Gobbo’s ­activities as a human source,” she said. “What has come through the royal commission has been extraordinary and we have seen the extent to which criminal proceedings have been corrupted.”

Ms Parker said Victoria Police continued to resist defence calls for disclosure and affected people were waiting for months for the materials they were entitled to.

Melbourne lawyer Nicola Gobbo. Picture: Supplied

Cvetanovski's barrister, Julie Condon QC, had told the appellate court the original prosecution had relied on evidence from a “pivotal” witness who was tainted by police informer Ms Gobbo.

In the bail hearing, crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane QC agreed the witness’s testimony was “certainly critical”.

The Court of Appeal said Ms Condon raised “very serious issues about the effect on the fairness of his trial” by the prosecution’s nondisclosure of the association between Ms Gobbo and the chief prosecution witness and it regarded the grounds for appeal as “reasonably arguable”.

Underworld figure Tony Mokbel heads to jail in 2011. Picture: AAP

The court said Cvetanovski’s interim written case contained substantial arguments that, if upheld, would render his July 2011 conviction for trafficking in a large commercial quantity “unsound”.

Cvetanovski was sentenced to 11 years for his role in Mokbel's drug cartel.