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Vic Police considered arresting 'Lawyer X'

Karen Sweeney
Released from prison, Faruk Orman sat in on the informant royal commission.
Released from prison, Faruk Orman sat in on the informant royal commission. Credit: AAP

Victorian police considered arresting snitching lawyer Nicola Gobbo when she defied police orders and continued to represent a drug cook client she turned in.

Instead hey put her in "babysitter mode", telling her they wouldn't accept any more intelligence and that nothing she was continuing to share would be acted on.

Until she told them what she knew about what was then the world's biggest ecstasy bust - importing 4.5 tonnes of MDMA in tomato tins from Italy.

Her tips led them to Rob Karam, a drug trafficker now hoping to appeal his 35-year prison sentence because of Ms Gobbo's involvement in his conviction.

Ms Gobbo was recruited for her third stint as a police informer in 2005, but just seven months later she was put on ice for turning on a client and continuing to represent him.

Tips that came from her social connections were "fair game" and her relationship with the cook was "very, very social", "Sandy White" a former officer involved in handling Ms Gobbo revealed.

It was a conflict of interest, but that was a matter for her, he told an inquiry into police use of informers.

"I don't think somebody represented by a barrister, who goes and tells that barrister about cooking in a clandestine lab or importing 4.5 tonnes of MDMA is in a position to be too upset about that," he said, defending the actions of police using a lawyer against her client.

But he admitted arresting her to end the conflict was an option.

"It did cross my mind that might be an option, but there's no powers of arrest for a conflict of interest and I didn't think it would be sufficient to justify an arrest for a perverse of the course of justice," he said.

Mr White said he had no issue with Ms Gobbo's information and the only problem with the cook was that she continued to represent him.

"She didn't do that for anyone else," he said.

But counsel assisting the commission Chris Winneke QC disagreed, pointing to the prison release of Faruk Orman on Friday.

Mr Orman was acquitted of murder by the Court of Appeal, which determined Ms Gobbo caused a "substantial miscarriage of justice" by representing both him and the key witness against him.

The inquiry also heard directly from Ms Gobbo for the first time on Wednesday, when recordings of conversations between her and Mr White were played.

Officers denied Ms Gobbo was being recorded then, but would be in future.

"I'm very concerned about that ... once something's recorded, it's there," Ms Gobbo said.

He tried to reassure her, saying only she and the officers in the room would know they existed.

Earlier on Wednesday, police were again hammered for delays in providing information.

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo said the inquiry had received 2290 documents from police since Sunday, but metadata revealed a "significant number" were identified as relevant in April.

"I accept you and your team are certainly trying to do everything you can, but it's not satisfactory," she told the force's lawyer.

Assistant Commissioner Neil Paterson was present to hear the commissioner's reprimand.

The royal commission is examining the force's use of informants and its recruitment of gangland barrister Ms Gobbo.