More than a dozen of Australia’s most high-profile criminals could have their convictions quashed after their lawyer was revealed to be a police informant.

At the end of the first trial related to the “Lawyer X” informant scandal, Faruk Orman was freed on Friday after serving 12 years in jail for the killing of a Melbourne crime figure.

The trial formed part of a dispute that has resulted in a number of convictions being called into question due to the actions of the lawyer Nicola Gobbo.

Last year, court documents revealed that the then unidentified barrister – dubbed Lawyer X – had worked as an informant for Victoria police between 2005 and 2009. Police had fought to keep Gobbo’s name a secret, but her identity came to light in March, after it was ruled to be in the public interest.

Gobbo had represented major criminal figures in Melbourne at a time when the police were under huge pressure to bring an end to gangland violence. Her exposure as a police informant has rocked Victoria’s justice system and prompted a royal commission inquiry.

On Friday, Orman’s conviction for helping to plan the 2002 shooting of Victor Peirce and acting as a driver for the hitman who carried it out was overturned. The prosecution’s case had relied heavily on the word of another of Gobbo’s clients. She had arranged for the witness to testify against Orman.

“Ms Gobbo’s conduct subverted Mr Orman’s right to a fair trial, and went to the very foundations of the system of criminal trial,” the court said in its judgment.

Appeal judges found that Orman had suffered a “substantial miscarriage of justice” due to the actions of Gobbo, having spent more than a decade behind bars for a murder he always denied. A successful petition for mercy pushed Orman to the head of the appeal court’s queue of her clients, including some of Australia’s biggest-name gangsters.

State and federal prosecutors have told 40 people their convictions might have been tainted by Gobbo’s connection to their case. Tony Mokbel, who was jailed in 2012 for masterminding a drug-trafficking operation, is one of four with appeal applications outstanding.

Rob Karam and Zlate Cvetanovski, who were also convicted of drug offences, have launched appeals from prison.

“Many people will think I have come out of prison bitter and angry. I haven’t,” Orman said after his release. He was swamped by family, friends and supporters following the court declaration that there would be no retrial.

Orman said he now wants to spend time with family, including his partner, who has stood by him the whole time. “We have our time now, and I look forward to our future together,” he said. He also acknowledged the Peirce family, hoping they were receiving support and care after the decision.



“I am sorry for your loss … I understand that this process will have been just as traumatic for you as it was for me.”



The acquittal opens the door for potentially costly compensation for those wrongly convicted of crimes linked to Gobbo. The state has forked out for wrongful convictions before, including in the case of the Melbourne man Farah Jama, who received $525,000 (£292,472) in 2010 for 18 months spent behind bars after a wrongful rape conviction.

Orman had been sentenced to 20 years in prison and would have had another two years to serve before becoming eligible for parole.



A royal commission is investigating police use of Gobbo as an informer. Hearings are due to resume on Tuesday. Lawyers for Gobbo declined to comment.

The premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, said there were safeguards, checks and balances to ensure that the scandal surrounding Gobbo never happens again.