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Almost four-and-a-half years after the Lawyer X Royal Commission officially concluded, a key gangland figure at the centre of the police scandal has been granted bail to await the “very strong” possibility that all of his drug convictions would be quashed.
One of the country’s most notorious crime figures and the mastermind behind Melbourne’s amphetamine trade in the late-90s to early-2000s, Antonios Sajih Mokbel – or Tony Mokbel – has been released on bail as a direct result of the scandalous relationship between his “long-time” barrister, Nicola Gobbo, and Victoria Police.
In reasons published last Friday, 4 April, Court of Appeal’s Justices Karin Emerton, Robert Osborn and Jane Dixon said the “deliberate concealment” of Gobbo’s actions amid Mokbel’s plea deal meant he had a “very strong case” for the quashing of his convictions.
“In our view, the applicant has established truly exceptional circumstances as the basis for his application for bail,” they found.
Reflecting on findings made by NSW Supreme Court’s Justice Elizabeth Fullerton last November, the bench agreed Mokbel “was obviously in no position to properly assess whether it was in his best interests to agree to the global plea deal which he entered into”.
Gobbo’s work with Victoria Police as a registered police informant – tasked with spying on her clients – was found to be “inexcusable”, duplicitous and improper by the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants’ final report, released by former Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo AC in late 2020.
“Her behaviour in concert with Victoria Police undermined the administration of justice, compromised criminal convictions, and damaged the standing of Victoria Police officers involved in this debacle. It has shaken public trust and confidence in Victoria’s legal profession and criminal justice system,” McMurdo wrote at the time.
By July 2012, Mokbel had negotiated a plea deal with respect to outstanding and serious drug offences – known as the Quills, Orbital and Magnum operations – and was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment with an effective non-parole period of 22 years.
Seven years earlier, Gobbo had been officially registered as an informer by Victoria Police. Although her work with them began earlier, the Court of Appeal noted it was in this registration that Gobbo shared the “common objective” to see Mokbel convicted.
Amid fleeing to Greece and extradition proceedings, Mokbel retained Gobbo to provide legal advice. According to Justice Fullerton, she did so while “simultaneously informing” to Victoria Police about her discussions with Mokbel, her advice, and his instructions.
Gobbo was also found to have lied to Mokbel about the strength of the charges for which extradition was sought, told different accounts of the capabilities of a Greek solicitor to Mokbel and police, and passed on information about who appeared to be paying his legal fees.
By failing to identify evidentiary matters relating to the three operations, Gobbo affected Mokbel’s capacity to evaluate the nature and strength of the prosecution case against him. Had this not been the case, the police’s matter could have been significantly weakened.
In written submissions to the Court of Appeal, Mokbel said Gobbo’s assistance in his conviction “was crucial to securing evidence against the applicant on the Quills and Orbital joint prosecution (and a number of other matters part of the global plea deal), and putting pressure on him to plead guilty, which he ultimately did”.
Justices Emerton, Osborn and Dixon said it was “overwhelmingly likely” that upon resentence for Magnum alone, Mokbel would receive a sentence of “materially less than 20 years”. The time already served would be regarded as substantially reflecting the likely non-parole period in those circumstances, the bench added.
The bench also dismissed submissions made by the Crown that each of the appeals has “different prospects of success”. The court did not agree insofar as it related to the global plea deal.
“The applicant has a strong case that his capacity to assess the united force of the charges against him was fundamentally compromised by the failure to make proper disclosure to him at the time of the plea agreement,” Justices Emerton, Osborn and Dixon said.
As to the argument that Mokbel had “independent lawyers” acting for him at the time of the plea deal, the appeal bench said these lawyers were also “deliberately deceived” as to the strength of the Crown case.
On the concerns Mokbel would flee while on bail, and noting he did so in 2006 to Greece, the bench said the current situation must be viewed as fundamentally different, particularly because the appeal offers Mokbel “significantly more positive prospects”.
“As his counsel submitted, he has a clear incentive to remain in the jurisdiction and to see out the end of the process that began nearly 10 years ago,” the bench said.
The case is: Mokbel v The King [2025] VSCA 62 (4 April 2025).
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Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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