Police allege key role
POLICE have alleged that greed prompted a Cairns lawyer to transition from being a drug kingpin’s legal adviser to becoming a “tactician for the criminal organisation”.
Roger Griffith, who was a Crown Prosecutor for 15 years, stands accused of being a major player in a milliondollar drug syndicate in the Far North.
Mr Griffith, who is in his 50s, is charged with trafficking methylamphetamines and cannabis, attempting to pervert the course of justice, money laundering and burglary.
It is alleged the offending occurred between early 2016 and November 2017 while Mr Griffith was acting as a barrister for a client, who is also facing serious drug charges.
“It’s suggested that he became over time a major part of this organisation,” Police Prosecutor Sergeant Maynard Marcum said.
The Cairns Magistrates Court heard that Mr Griffith, another solicitor and the syndicate leader were all partners in a cannabis trafficking business and the other solicitor made secret recordings.
The court heard that Mr Griffith’s could face up to 14 years jail, which Sgt Marcum said would loom very large in his mind making him an unacceptable risk for bail.
“Considering his history in wilfully creating false evidence, wilfully misleading the court, wilfully suborning false testimony, wilfully suborning false declarations … all of which was done simply for the benefit of money, only for money,” Sgt Marcum said.
Solicitor Bebe Mellick told the court it was fanciful to suggest his client would abscond and argued there was “no real substance” to it all.
Mr Mellick said Mr Griffith had strong ties to the community, no criminal history and was entitled to bail.
Mr Mellick told the court that police had seized his client’s phone, tablet and laptop in November 2017, so he had been aware he was under police scrutiny for more than a year.
The court heard Mr Griffith had been arrested by appointment on Tuesday after receiving an email from police the week before.
“If my client was going to abscond the jurisdiction he would have done so by now, not respond to an email request,” Mr Mellick said.
Mr Griffith will spend at least one more night in custody while Brisbane Magistrate Bronwyn Springer gives her decision on bail today.