Victoria Police and Lawyer X Found to Have Perverted Justice in Tony Mokbel Case

A court ruled that police and Nicola Gobbo engaged in a joint criminal enterprise, raising serious questions about Mokbel's drug convictions.

Justice Elizabeth Fullerton found that Victoria Police and Nicola Gobbo collaborated to pervert the course of justice in the prosecution of drug kingpin Tony Mokbel.
Gobbo, who secretly acted as a police informer while serving as Mokbel's lawyer, provided privileged legal information to police without her clients' knowledge.
Former Director of Public Prosecutions John Champion was found to have failed in his duty to disclose Gobbo's informer role as early as 2012, a lapse described as a serious error in judgment.
The findings, based on the balance of probabilities, do not yet determine whether Mokbel's drug trafficking convictions will be overturned; the Court of Appeal will decide in future hearings.
The case, part of the long-running Lawyer X scandal, has drawn criticism of Victoria Police's ethical practices and handling of legal advice when enlisting Gobbo as an informer.