The quashing of a conviction against Melbourne drug lord Tony Mokbel by Victoria's Court of Appeal yesterday is the first sign of the "dam wall bursting" for Victoria Police after the recent Lawyer X Royal Commission, according to former detective Paul Dale.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Dale said sections of the legal system were "seriously (expletive deleted) off" with Victoria Police during the period lawyer Nicola Gobbo was a registered police informer and also representing the drug big wig.
Mokbel sentence of a 12-years jail term over drug importation followed his capture in Greece and extradition back to Australia.
"They clearly feel completely undermined by sections of Victoria Police from the day," Mr Dale said.
"The scales of justice need to be fair, equal and even for everybody.
"What we are finding now is we have got places to go and that is back to the courts to get justice for the illegal, wrongful manner in which Victoria Police operated during that time.
"The dam wall is bursting."
Mr Dale is now a businessman based in North-East Victoria.
Mokbel remains behind bars on other matters.
Justice Chris Maxwell said Mokbel's case and subsequent appeals instigated as a result of the Lawyer X saga was a matter of "profound importance".
"Those who have been the subject of this disgraceful behaviour by Ms Gobbo and by those who facilitate her work, they have an obligation by virtue of the impact on the criminal justice to ensure that we, deciding the effect of those activities, have the full picture," he said.
Mr Dale said the Royal Commission, which concluded in November and found 1011 cases maybe tainted, backed up everything he had said during his own legal battles which included imprisonment.
He said he had a complaint ready to file.
"I said when the Royal Commission was first announced two years ago that I will be doing everything I can to be the first person to give evidence," he said.
"I can prove them now because of the Royal Commission."
