Lawyer X: Simon Overland ‘engaged in a deceit’, says Nicola Gobbo

Nicola Gobbo has accused Simon Overland of engaging in a ‘deceit’ and says police under his command encouraged her to betray her clients.

Former Victoria Police commissioner Simon Overland near his Melbourne home. Picture: Aaron Francis

Nicola Gobbo has accused Simon Overland of engaging in a “deceit” and says police under his command encouraged her to betray her clients.

In a response to recommen­dations from the counsel assisting the royal commission, Ms Gobbo’s legal submission says evidence tendered by the former chief commissioner should not be believed. “What the questioning failed to acknowledge (or delib­erately omitted) was that Mr Overland and Victoria Police engaged Ms Gobbo to undertake this deceit, they continued to encourage and foster it over several years and, without them, none of it would have occurred.”

In his rebuttal, Mr Overland slams the conduct of the royal commission. “There is grave concern that the royal commission is being urged to entertain (redacted) serious findings against Mr Overland in circumstances where time constraints do not permit a careful and reasonable analysis of the evidence,” his legal team’s statement reads.

“The submissions of counsel assisting are so riddled with errors … or unsupported by evidence … that the royal commissioner cannot rely on any assertions.

“The submissions … have abandoned any attempt to present a balanced, comprehensive or reasoned view.”

Ms Gobbo says she was encouraged by police to inform on clients. “From the very first meeting, they asked her information about Mr Mokbel, her known client,” her statement reads.

“For Mr Overland … and Victoria Police to recognise the risks related to Ms Gobbo, as the evidence demonstrates, but then continue to use her indicates that Victoria Police and Mr Overland were prepared to receive and use information from Ms Gobbo, irrespective of breaches of her professional duties and irrespective of the serious risk it caused to her.”

Her submission claims Victoria Police considered her health and safety as “a collateral or secondary issue as compared to her utility to the investigations that (police) were undertaking”.

Former commissioner Graham Ashton. Picture: Aaron Francis

“Everything she did was with the imprimatur of Victoria Police. The evidence shows that it was not the SDU but rather the senior decision-makers who were responsible for Ms Gobbo’s use — primarily Mr Overland,” it says.

“The SDU were providing a service to the investigators. The investigators were reporting up to Mr Overland.”

Ms Gobbo's rebuttal challenges Mr Overland’s version of events in strident terms. “The evidence before the commission makes unequivocally clear that Mr Overland was involved in the decision-making process as far as Ms Gobbo was concerned, despite his protestations to the contrary.

“Ms Gobbo has, and continues to, accept her failings. However, without the conduct of Victoria Police, in particular senior ­decision-makers, this commission would not have been necessary. It was Victoria Police’s decision to register Ms Gobbo, to deploy her, to continually use her and then seek to use her as a witness.

“Mr Overland was intimately involved in that process, with his ‘trusted’ investigators and the SDU following his instructions.”