Tony Mokbel bound for Queensland holiday as prosecutors delay retrial decision

17 hours ago 2

Gangland figure Tony Mokbel will see in the new year in Queensland after having his bail conditions significantly relaxed.

Mokbel, 60, attended the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday, expecting to learn if the Director of Public Prosecutions would persist with a retrial of drug charges after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in October.

Tony Mokbel (centre) and his lawyers on Friday.

Instead, prosecutor Simon Thomas told the court there was still no finality on the question and asked the court for an extension until February.

Mokbel’s defence barrister, Julie Condon, KC, expressed frustration at the delay and said it was time to bring this “sorry saga” to an end.

She told the court that immediately after Mokbel was granted a retrial on a charge of conspiracy to import drugs charges, his legal team submitted a 30-page application to permanently stay, or halt proceedings, for the DPP to consider.

It was “completely unfathomable”, Condon said, for no decision to have been made.

“It’s not a complicated matter. It’s an extremely confined allegation of one count of incitement. The evidentiary basis is these two meetings on the 29th and 30th June, 2005 between Mokbel and two undercover operatives for the AFP,” Condon said.

“[Then] a phone call on July 13, 2025, by Mokbel where he tells one of the operatives he’s not interested [in importing drugs].

“It is very unfortunate ... that this sorry saga has not come to an end today.”

Thomas said prosecutors were still considering the stay application, but needed more time to review the evidence.

Mokbel arrives at court with barrister Julie Condon, KC.

Judicial registrar Timothy Freeman echoed the defence’s concerns about the delay and ordered the matter return to court in early February.

He also flagged that any retrial could occur in the County Court, not the Supreme Court, given the nature of the charges.

Freeman then reduced Mokbel’s bail conditions, allowing the 60-year-old to use a smartphone, move house. He also removed a curfew that had required Mokbel to be home after dark.

While in Queensland, Freeman said Mokbel would still need to report to a police station three times a week.

In 2012, Mokbel was jailed for 30 years, with a non-parole period of 22 years, after pleading guilty to masterminding an elaborate drug syndicate.

On October 3 this year, Court of Appeal judges Stephen McLeish, Maree Kennedy and Stephen Kaye unanimously tossed out one of Mokbel’s major drug convictions, ordered a retrial on a second and upheld a third.

The Orbital case – which Mokbel was ordered to face a retrial on – alleged he commissioned the importation of MDMA powder into Australia in 2005. It was alleged he did so by placing an order with undercover police for 100 kilograms at a cost of $1.2 million.

In its judgment, the Court of Appeal found supergrass Nicola Gobbo’s involvement corrupted one case against Mokbel – known as Operation Quills – to a degree that his conviction should be quashed.

Mokbel in 2004 with his then-lawyer, Nicola Gobbo.

The judges though found that didn’t automatically extend to other prosecutions, known as Magnum and Orbital.

Gobbo was previously Mokbel’s defence lawyer, but he was not made aware she was working with police before entering his guilty plea.

The Magnum conviction, which still stands, related to Mokbel trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine via a large-scale criminal enterprise while he was overseas.

The Quills case, which was dismissed, had alleged Mokbel trafficked ecstasy while the head of a criminal enterprise in 2005. Police said it involved the large-scale pressing of 30 kilograms of MDMA into ecstasy pills using two pill presses at a Coburg factory, and later a third pill press in a Craigieburn garage.

Mokbel on Friday has had his bail conditions relaxed.

At his sentencing in 2012, Mokbel was handed a joint sentence for all three cases.

After being released on bail earlier this year after serving 18 years in prison, Mokbel agreed to abide by a raft of bail conditions, including reporting to police and staying at a single bail address.