Tony Mokbel, a key figure in Melbourne’s gangland war, walks free as prosecutors drop his retrial after a major police informant scandal.
MELBOURNE: One of Australia’s most notorious gangsters has walked free after prosecutors dropped a planned retrial on drug trafficking charges.
The decision follows the scandal of his former lawyer, Nicola Gobbo, who was secretly feeding information to police.
Sixty-year-old Tony Mokbel was jailed for 30 years in 2012 after pleading guilty to masterminding an elaborate drug syndicate.
His conviction was later thrown into doubt after it was revealed his high-profile lawyer was a police informant.
Mokbel spent about 18 years behind bars before being released on bail last April.
A court had subsequently acquitted him of one charge and ordered a possible retrial over a 2005 drug importation allegation.
Prosecutors in the state of Victoria announced they would not pursue that retrial.
“This decision was reached after careful consideration of all aspects of the matter,” the Victoria Office of Public Prosecutions said.
They cited Mokbel’s age, health, and the time he had already served.
“It feels really nice, and life goes on,” Mokbel told local media outside a Melbourne courthouse.
He said he was keen to travel abroad, a dream he held while in prison.
Asked if he regretted drug trafficking, he answered: “I do not regret anything”.
Violence linked to Mokbel’s group, known as “The Company”, claimed dozens of lives.
The gang war was later immortalised in the popular Australian TV series “Underbelly”.
Gobbo, known as Lawyer X, claims over 300 people were arrested based on her information.
A 2020 Royal Commission found her actions were “fundamental and appalling breaches” of her obligations.
She was a key police source during critical gangland prosecutions between 2005 and 2009.
Gobbo was first registered as an informant in 1999, two years before she was admitted to practice law.
Prosecutors informed 22 people in 2019 that they could have grounds to appeal their convictions.
Court documents show Mokbel was brutally attacked during his time in prison.
One assailant stabbed him “up to seven times” while another kicked him in the head.
