Lawyer X: Tony Mokbel showing high anxiety over appeal bid

Former drug kingpin Tony Mokbel is ‘very anxious’ to know whether his appeal bid shall proceed following the unmasking of Nicola Gobbo as Lawyer X.

Tony Mokbel. Picture: AFP

Former drug kingpin Tony Mokbel is “very anxious” to know whether his appeal bid shall proceed following the unmasking of his former barrister Nicola Gobbo as Lawyer X.

His lawyer, Richard Maidment QC, said his client had finally received disclosures for which he’d waited years, after he was ­arrested in a coastal town near Athens wearing a toupee in June 2007. “He is very anxious now to proceed as quickly as possible to a hearing,” he said.

Mokbel appeared briefly via videolink before the Court of Appeal on Wednesday for an administrative hearing.

The former underworld heavy has two appeals on foot, with Mr Maidment clarifying he would keep both appeals, with one a “safety net” despite being a “bigger hurdle”.

“If we fail in this proceeding we still have the option,” he said.

Despite Mokbel’s anxiety, lawyers for the Victorian and commonwealth prosecutors told the court they would need at least eight weeks to read through the more than 14,000 pages in mat­erial submitted by his team.

Mr Maidment said Mokbel opposed any delays but Chief Crown Prosecutor Brendan Kissane QC noted a possible “substantial miscarriage of justice” required careful review.

Registrar Ian Irving granted the eight-week extension, with the matter next to appear at some stage in late November.

If his appeal is successful, Mokbel would be the highest-profile criminal to have a conviction overturned because of the double life of lawyer-turned-police informant Ms Gobbo. The drug lord is serving almost 30 years in jail after pleading guilty to a series of major drug crimes.

Counsel assisting the royal commission into the police management of informants found that Ms Gobbo passed information on Mokbel to Victoria Police while acting for him in 2006.

As well, Richard Winneke QC said Ms Gobbo was providing legal advice to Mokbel while he was fighting extradition from Greece in 2008.

Faruk Orman was released last year over his alleged role in the murder of Victoria Pierce after it emerged Ms Gobbo convinced a key gangland witness to give evidence against him.

In royal commission submissions published on Wednesday, the Victorian Legal Services Board said lawyers should gen­erally not become police informants. “That is because of the position occupied by lawyers in the justice system,” the submission said.

“They are to (and must be seen to be) independent, with a primary duty to their court, and their client.”

In a submission to the royal commission by the Victorian Bar, its president, Matt Collins QC, said legal-professional client privilege was a “fundamental tenet” of the justice system.