The troubling relationship between Lawyer X Nicola Gobbo and the police who used her has potentially had "catastrophic consequences" on Victoria's justice system, according to royal commission lawyers.
Key points:
- The royal commission has been looking at the use of Nicola Gobbo as a police informer between 1995 and 2009
- It has released thousands of pages of documents, including submissions from the lawyers assisting the commission
- Commissioner Margaret McMurdo is due to deliver the commission's final report by December
And the use of the barrister-turned-informer may have tarnished the legal case of notorious Melbourne gangster Tony Mokbel, the lawyers assisting the commission say.
In explosive submissions released by the commission, lawyers Chris Winneke QC, Andrew Woods and Megan Tittensor found that there were "significant and repeated departures from acceptable conduct" when it came to the relationship between Ms Gobbo and Victoria Police.
"In other words, things have gone badly wrong," they found.
The royal commission lawyers have spent more than a year investigating the nature of the relationship between Ms Gobbo and the force, which helped bring about an end to Melbourne's bloody gangland war, but also forced the state's justice system to its knees.
The lawyers described the behaviour of police as "troubling" and found police tried to cover up the use of Ms Gobbo by not taking notes and not recording decisions in meeting minutes.
"This appears to have been a deliberate decision."
The royal commission lawyers described this conduct as 'noble cause corruption', which refers to a belief that the means justifies the ends.
"Whilst [police] members do not seek to serve themselves through the conduct, but rather seek the 'noble end' of 'putting away' criminals and prevent crime, it may be corruption nonetheless," they found.
The lawyers said the conduct of police took several forms including:
- Those who knew the conduct was wrong, but forged on
- Those who knew Ms Gobbo's ongoing use would spark a royal commission but weighed that against the value of her information
- Those who allowed themselves to be reassured by senior officers that Ms Gobbo's use was "sanctioned and approved" at the highest levels
- Those who claimed ignorance and said the risks to the integrity of the system "never occurred to them"
"It appears that the high value of the information Ms Gobbo could and did provide justified, in the views of many members, at all ranks, both the obvious impropriety of using Ms Gobbo as a human source and keeping that fact hidden from the Courts."
Tony Mokbel's right to fair trial 'may have been interfered with'
In reams of documents released by the inquiry, the lawyers said Mokbel "may have been affected by the conduct of Ms Gobbo … as well as the conduct of members of Victoria Police".
"There was the potential for the right of Mr Mokbel to a fair trial to have been interfered with," they wrote.
"The above conduct by Ms Gobbo … may constitute breaches of her duty to the administration of justice, her duty to the court, her duty to her client.
The lawyers also found all police officers operating at the height of Melbourne's bloody gangland war had an "obligation" to ensure that anyone, including Mokbel, had the right to a fair trial.
"It is submitted that there was a failure by members of Victoria Police to make appropriate disclosure to Mr Mokbel," the lawyers say.
"Evidence relied upon by the prosecution [in two of the cases] may have been obtained in consequence of an impropriety or illegality in connection with the use of Ms Gobbo as a human source by Victoria Police."
The submissions are merely recommendations for Commissioner Margaret McMurdo, who continues to prepare a final report to be released in November. They do not constitute formal findings.
Over the course of about eight years, Ms Gobbo acted as Mokbel's lawyer on three major cases, even as she was secretly working for Victoria Police.
Message from ex-police chief could suggest 'noble cause corruption' was OK: submissions
The submissions said it was possible Ms McMurdo may find former chief commissioner Graham Ashton failed to ensure Victoria Police acted ethically.
The scathing assessment found the former Victoria Police boss tried to justify potentially corrupt activity on the basis that the "ends justifies the means".
Mr Ashton failed to ensure police officers acted in scrupulous compliance with the law, the submissions said.
They said Mr Ashton sent a message to officers that may have been interpreted to mean they could "ignore both the rule of law" and "engage in noble cause corruption", which perpetuated a culture that noble cause corruption was acceptable.
Yesterday, a leaked email showed Mr Ashton's successor, Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, admitted Victoria Police's use Ms Gobbo as a police informer was "a profound failing".
Commissioner Patton's email — sent to other police members — says Victoria Police has "again accepted that permitting Nicola Gobbo to give information to officers about her own clients in this manner was profoundly wrong".
In a statement following the submissions' release, Victoria Police issued a statement apologising to the courts and to the community "for breaching its trust".
"It was an indefensible interference in the lawyer/client relationship, a relationship that is essential to the proper functioning of the criminal justice system and to the rule of law," the statement said.
It said the community could be assured Victoria Police had taken steps "to make sure that what happened with Ms Gobbo can never happen again".
More to come.
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2020-09-01 08:48:00Z
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