Royal commission into Lawyer X scandal recommends dedicated Special Investigator to prosecute police

The Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants has revealed more than 1000 crooks could be released or earn retrials because of disgraced lawyer Nicola Gobbo’s informing to Victoria Police. 

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo AO on Monday called on the Victorian Government to establish a dedicated special investigator with all necessary powers to investigate potential criminal conduct on the part of Ms Gobbo and relevant current and former Victoria Police officers.

She has done so specifically to determine whether further action should be taken in relation to the conduct of Ms Gobbo and current and former Victoria Police officers, including prosecution of criminal offences or disciplinary action. 

Melbourne gangland identity Faruk Orman walked free after having his murder conviction overturned because of the Lawyer X scandal

After months of evidence, including all relevant submissions, the commission has concluded that the convictions or findings of guilt of 1,011 people may have been affected by Victoria Police’s use of Ms Gobbo as a human source. 

This includes people who were deprived of the opportunity to be represented by an independent lawyer acting in their best interests, and those who may have been affected by Ms Gobbo’s conflicts of interest and/or tainted evidence arising from her conduct as a human source.  

Ms Gobbo’s behaviour has already led to the release of supposed killer Faruk Orman. 

The smiling, previously convicted assassin, simply walked out of jail a free man in 2019 after 12 long years behind bars. 

He had been sentenced to serve 20 years for the murder of underworld figure Victor Peirce. 

In October, Zlate Cvetanovski became the second person to be acquitted over the Lawyer X scandal.

He had spent close to a decade behind bars as drug lord Tony Mokbel’s drug cook after Ms Gobbo convinced a key witness to incriminate him. 

The commissioner has made a whopping 110 recommendations following months of investigation. 

Ms Gobbo’s antics as a police informer were covered up for years by Victoria Police, who claimed they feared for her life. 

‘Nothing is more important to Victoria Police than the protection of human life – that is and always will be the absolute number one priority. And so I make no apologies for taking the legal actions that Victoria Police has taken in this matter,’ Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said at the time. 

In bringing on the royal commission, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews expressed his concern over the handling of the informer.  

Nicola Gobbo worked as an informer for Victoria Police. Her involvement in snitching on her own clients has now seen one convicted killer walk free

Calabrian mob boss Pasquale ‘Pat’ Barbaro has lodged an appeal over his conviction because of Nicola Gobbo. Rob Karam (right) is eight years into his 37-year prison sentence for several drug crimes, including his role in the Calabrian mafia’s attempt to smuggle in 15 million ecstasy pills

‘The integrity of the criminal justice system is paramount and all people charged with crimes are entitled to a fair trial, no matter who they are,’ Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said that while these events took place many years ago, the public had the right to know that every part of the justice system acts fairly and lawfully at all times.

For years the scandal could not even be spoken about. 

And when it was revealed, police and politicians assured no-one would be strolling free from jail.   

A who’s who of crooks are lining up to be released from jail, including Calabrian mob boss Pasquale ‘Pat’ Barbaro. 

Barbaro was the highest-profile member of the infamous ‘Tomato Tins’ syndicate and has lodged an appeal against his conviction.

Barbaro was jailed for 30 years to life after customs officers at the Port of Melbourne intercepted 15 million pills hidden in 3000 tomato tins imported from Italy in 2007.

Mokbel is also lining up for early release. 

The commission heard Gobbo had been hellbent on taking down his criminal empire and provided police with a ‘volume of information’. 

‘She told police about Mr Mokbel’s properties, finances, contact numbers, associates, and the vehicles and code names he used,’ Commissioner McMurdo said. 

‘She divulged the defence strategies and tactics used by Mr Mokbel’s legal team, both in his criminal trial and his extradition proceedings.’

Zlate Cvetanovski (centre) poses for a photograph with his lawyers outside the Supreme Court of Appeal in Melbourne in October upon his release

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo AO has slammed Victoria Police over its use of Nicola Gobbo an an informant 

The commissioner said she continues to have reservations about Ms Gobbo’s position in the legal fraternity despite her already being struck off the Supreme Court’s Roll of Legal Practitioners and is unable to practise law. 

‘She remains, however, on the Victorian Bar Roll’s list of ‘retired’ barristers,’ she said. 

‘The Commission is concerned that this has the potential to undermine public confidence in the Victorian Bar. 

‘In light of Ms Gobbo’s conduct, the Commission recommends that the Victorian Bar seeks to address this issue, given the symbolic significance of her remaining on the Bar Roll.’

Commissioner McMurdo was scathing of the role Victoria Police had in recruiting and managing Ms Gobbo. 

‘In their recruitment, use and management of Ms Gobbo as a human source, the conduct of a number of Victoria Police officers seems to have fallen short of the behaviour required by their legal, ethical and professional obligations,’ she said. 

The commission found Victoria Police officers effectively put their heads in the sand when faced with the outrageous situation it had created when employing a lawyer to rat on her own clients. 

‘A compelling explanation is that Victoria Police did not want to be told they could not use Ms Gobbo in the ways they intended,’ Commissioner McMurdo said. 

‘While the use of Ms Gobbo as a human source was in many ways extraordinary, it was also a systemic failure.’

Nicola Gobbo could yet face criminal charges over her notorious stint as ‘Lawyer X’

The commission heard it continued for several years, even though many Victoria Police officers, including some very senior officers, were aware of Ms Gobbo’s informing.

Victoria Police conceded more than 100 police officers and personnel knew that Ms Gobbo was a human source between 2005 and 2009. 

‘It appears that none of these officers or personnel reported it to or raised concerns with Victoria Police’s then Ethical Standards Department or with an external oversight body,’ Commissioner McMurdo said.

Several officers who gave evidence to the royal commission claimed Victoria Police was under significant pressure to stem the violence associated with Melbourne’s gangland wars.

The infamous ‘Underbelly’ gangland war saw 36 criminal underworld figures in Melbourne murdered between January 1998 and August 2010. proper about their management of Ms Gobbo and the associated risks.

Despite the damage done to Victoria’s justice system, the royal commission stopped short of recommending a total ban on using lawyers as informers.

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo said while it was almost never appropriate for police to use a lawyer as an informer against their own client, a prohibition was not warranted.

‘There may be limited circumstances in which the use of such sources may be justified – for example, when there is a compelling public interest reason for acquiring and using the information, there is an unambiguous exception to the duty of confidentiality or privilege, and/or the source is providing information they have come by well beyond the scope of their professional obligations,’ she said.  

Underworld identity Mick Gatto, Ray Towell (friend of Lewis Moran) and Nicola Gobbo at the Flemington funeral of lawyer and ALP member Stephen Drazetic in 2008

Nicola Gobbo helped bust an attempted import of drugs in tomato tins in 2007. Those involved now hope to go free 

The royal commission heard that even as a young law student in the 1990s, Ms Gobbo was willing to give police information about those who trusted her.

In 1993, when Ms Gobbo was sharing a house with her then de facto partner, Victoria Police executed a search warrant at the property. 

Ms Gobbo told police that drugs were hidden in a vent in the laundry. 

She was charged with use and possession of cannabis and amphetamine and later received a non-custodial sentence without conviction. 

 In the following two years, Ms Gobbo maintained contact with Victoria Police, actively seeking out and cultivating opportunities to meet with police officers and give them information. 

In 1995, Victoria Police officers registered her as a human source, evidently because of information she had provided against her boyfriend.

She would go onto become the most notorious turncoat rat in Australian legal history.