Gobbo billed lagged clients

DOUBLE-CROSSING barrister Nicola Gobbo said she was entitled to charge gangland clients tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, despite breaching their confidence and ratting on them to police, the Lawyer X royal commission heard yesterday.

The lawyer turned informer told the inquiry into the legal scandal she continued to bill her high-profile clients while knowing her double dealing could potentially lead to overturned convictions and the perversion of justice.

But the woman dubbed Lawyer X rejected the suggestion her conduct could amount to obtaining financial advantage by deception — a criminal offence that carries a maximum of 10 years behind bars.

It was also revealed wads of cash were found in Gobbo’s house during a police search early in 2019, including $2000 in a birthday card that read, “From Carl and Purana”.

More than $5000 was found in miscellaneous envelopes and folders labelled “fees”.

During her fourth day giving evidence from a secret location, Ms Gobbo claimed she discussed the issue of legal fees with her police handlers who she said gave her the go-ahead.

“I was led to believe … that they were the police and anything that I was doing that was wrong, they would stop,” she said.

The royal commission heard Ms Gobbo charged jailed drug trafficker Rob Karam $60,000 for her services, despite helping police nab him for his role in the world’s largest ecstasy haul.

The snitching lawyer also claimed more than $30,000 in legal fees from Faruk Orman, including sending him nine invoices after his 2007 arrest for the murder of Victor Peirce four years earlier.

Orman spent 12 years behind bars before he was released from prison last year after the Court of Appeal found Ms Gobbo had helped police get a key witness to testify against him. She had represented both men.

The 47-year-old yesterday rubbished claims by a former client that he kept her on a $10,000 monthly retainer in exchange for keeping tabs on what his underlings were telling police.

“That is just unmitigated rubbish,” she said.

Under cross-examination by counsel for former police chief Simon Overland, Jeff Gleeson QC asked Ms Gobbo if she accepted that she was “a spectacularly good liar”.

“Ah, yes,” she answered. Ms Gobbo’s evidence will continue next week.