Underworld kingpin Mokbel avoids a return to prison
Tara Cosoleto |
Gangland identity Tony Mokbel will not have to serve more time behind bars for trafficking 41kg of methamphetamine while on the run.
Mokbel, 60, looked down in relief and shared a passionate kiss with his girlfriend after the Victorian Court of Appeal handed down its decision on Thursday.
He originally sought to have his conviction for the 2006 offending quashed, claiming barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo tainted his case.
But the court in October refused his appeal on the drug-trafficking charge, known under the police operation name Magnum.
His conviction was instead upheld and Justices Stephen McLeish, Maree Kennedy and Stephen Kaye on Thursday re-sentenced him to 13 years, seven months and 15 days in jail, a term he has served.
Justice McLeish noted while the offending was serious and flagrant, Mokbel’s unusual circumstances warranted the more modest sentence.
Mokbel was on the run for separate charges when he carried out the Magnum offending between July 2006 and June 2007.
He trafficked more than 41kg of methamphetamine, turning over $4 million, while hiding out in regional Victoria and Greece.
Mokbel was arrested and extradited to Melbourne in 2008 and ultimately pleaded guilty in 2011 to the Magnum offence and two other drug charges.
He successfully appealed those two convictions, dubbed Quills and Orbital, earlier in 2025.
His barrister Julie Condon KC on Thursday argued her client should be re-sentenced to time already served for the Magnum offence, noting he was effectively a first-time drug offender.
All of his prior drug convictions have been quashed by the appeal court because of Ms Gobbo’s connection with his cases.
“Despite seeming like a somewhat fantastical submission … he is a first-time offender,” Ms Condon said.
She argued her client had served 5005 days of his original 20-year jail term for Magnum, amounting to almost 14 years behind bars.
His time in custody had been difficult because he sustained a serious brain injury during a 2019 prison assault, Ms Condon said.
Prosecutor David Glynn argued a sentence closer to the original 20 years was more appropriate, given the seriousness of the crime.
“He was a fugitive of justice and trafficked drugs to the value of $4 million over the course of that year to fund being a fugitive,” Mr Glynn said.
He accepted Mokbel could no longer be sentenced as a serious drug offender, given his previous convictions were quashed.
In re-sentencing, Justice McLeish said the court took into account Mokbel had no prior drug convictions and suffered a severe brain injury while in custody.
Mokbel’s bail was extended as he still faces a retrial on the Orbital drug importation conviction.
The Victorian Director of Public Prosecution was yet to decide whether to retry Mokbel, a spokeswoman told AAP.
He is due back in the Victorian Supreme Court on November 17 for a directions hearing on the Orbital matter.
AAP
