Tony Mokbel’s lawyer claims Victoria Police conduct ‘criminal’ by recruiting Lawyer X as an informant
A former judge turned QC representing Tony Mokbel says Victoria Police “aided and abetted Gobbo to pervert the course of justice” via “criminal conduct” when they recruited her to inform on her gangland clients.
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A former judge has said Victoria Police acted criminally in recruiting gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo to inform on her clients.
Richard Maidment QC, who is representing drug baron Tony Mokbel, told the Lawyer X Royal Commission, Victoria Police “aided and abetted Gobbo to pervert the course of justice.”
Mr Maidment’s client, Mokbel, was represented by Gobbo from 2002 to 2011 and Gobbo had told police it was her desire to rid herself of his influence that led to her becoming a registered informer.
Mr Maidment said it was not surprising Victoria Police had “wholesale” failed to disclose documents relating to Gobbo’s role as an informer because they revealed “criminal conduct.”
“This is not just a case of impropriety but there is criminal conduct here and that involves aiding and abetting Gobbo in perverting the course of justice.”
He said Victoria Police also aided and abetted Gobbo to claim defence fees from clients in the period she was a registered informer — 2005 to 2009 — by deception, as they would not have been released if her role as an informer was revealed to them.
“She must have known and Victoria Police must have known that none of those fees would have been paid if proper disclosure had been made.”
Mr Maidment said due to Gobbo’s and Victoria Police conduct Mokbel had “good grounds” to seek to overturn his 30-year sentence for drug convictions.
“That may be an unpopular result so far as Victoria Police are concerned and for many others but this is the fact.
“This is a situation of their (Victoria Police) own making and it is their obligation to rectify it in an open and clear way, with as much of these proceedings broadcast to the general public, so that the spotlight can be placed firmly on them and this can never be repeated,” he told the Royal Commission.
“It is unprecedented in the common law world and imperative this commission is effective in exposing the full extent of this conduct.”
Mr Maidment was part of cavalcade of defence lawyers for convicted drug criminals who slammed police over the unacceptable delays in producing documents to allow them to run their appeals or assist them in deciding if they had grounds to claim that convictions were unsafe.
Mokbel, his underling Zlate Cvetanovski and Rob Karam — who was convicted for his part in a then-record ecstasy importation bust found hidden in tomato tins, all are appealing their criminal sentence based on grounds that Gobbo was an informer while she was representing them.
Representatives of five men charged with the tomato tin ecstasy bust, said they were also seeking documents from Victoria Police about their clients — including its ringleader Pasquale Barbaro — which would then help them determine if they should challenge their convictions.
It is believed that Gobbo provided to police crucial information about where the container holding the 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy shipped from Italy was.
Gobbo represented Barbaro on a number of occasions.
Royal Commissioner Margaret McMurdo also heard suspicions that slain mafia lawyer Joe Acquaro acted as a police informer.
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Lucy Kirwan, acting for Francesco Madafferi, who was jailed for the tomato tin plot, said it had never been confirmed that Acquaro was a police source, but she noted the Royal Commission had said it had received information a now deceased lawyer — whose death was the subject of a homicide probe — may have been providing police information.
Acquaro was shot dead in 2016 and last year police charged a 69-year-old man with his murder.
Ms Kirwan said Gobbo and Acquaro met with her clients on many occasions and if Mr Acquaro was an informer, it is not clear if he was providing information in conjunction with Gobbo.
“No one will confirm if Mr Acquaro was one of the informants, it seems a fair inference on information to the public record that he was.”
Originally published as Tony Mokbel’s lawyer claims Victoria Police conduct ‘criminal’ by recruiting Lawyer X as an informant
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