Andrew Roderick Fraser

Fraser was a high-flying Melbourne criminal lawyer.

He had many colourful and notorious clients, a virtual who's who of Melbourne's big-time gangsters.

Among them were Peter and Dennis Allen and their half-brother Victor Peirce, as well as friend and fellow Walsh Street suspect, Anthony Farrell.

He also represented underworld stalwart, Jason Moran and was enlisted by failed business tycoon Alan Bond.

Fraser was jailed for cocaine trafficking in late 2001.

In a January 2002 article in the Herald Sun, Derryn Hinch recalled a book he had read entitled Going for Broke - How Bond got away with it, by Paul Barry.

Hinch referred to Alan Bond as the biggest and bravest, most brazen and clever corporate crook and reminded the reader that in his youth, Bond was caught on premises with housebreaking equipment.

Fraser was Bond's lawyer in the early eighties when the charlatan businessman was charged with one of his smaller crimes - the $14 million fraud involving Manet's painting, La Promenade.

In various court actions at the time (including $1.2 billion from Bell Resources shareholders) Bond's mental state suddenly became a major issue.

Bond has since made a miraculous recovery.

Bond at the time however wanted the court to think he was mad. He shuffled into court. He couldn't remember company names, let alone transactions. A trial would kill him, a jail term would kill him.

Fraser's associate and fellow cocaine user, Tim Watson-Munro, vouched for Bonds insanity, "and didn't they play it well", wrote Hinch.

What grabbed the attention of Hinch was a 1994 photo portraying a "tragic Bondy, having collapsed on the first day of his fraud trial in Perth, staggering from the court in his raincoat with his eyes closed and face in a tormented grimace. On one side is lawyer Andrew Fraser.

Clutching the other arm and looking concerned is Tim Watson-Munro.

"Watson-Munro had sworn to a court that Mr Bond was depressed, fragile, vulnerable, suicidal and anxious - and would be so stressed in the witness box he could break down."

Hinch concluded his piece by writing "we don't know what Fraser and Mr Watson-Munro were on at the time Mr Bond was on the run."

Fraser also represented jailed ex football star and convicted amphetamine courier Jim Krakouer.  

The former North Melbourne rover received a hefty 16-year jail term in Western Australia for his part in a drug trafficking scheme in which amphetamines were hidden in a car that was freighted from Melbourne.

The drugs were allegedly for syndicate bosses including John Higgs. 

Fraser was engaged by the notorious Jason Moran (left) when he was interviewed over the death of Alphonse Gangitano in January 1998.

Moran refused to answer questions on Fraser's advice.

The names of Fraser and Moran would be linked again when the pair would appear in different courts on different matters in 2000/2001.

Interestingly, another client of Fraser's was Giuseppe Quadara.

Fraser represented the truck driving fruiterer at the time of the shooting of another fruiterer with the same name.

Joe Quadara was gunned down in the car park of a Toorak supermarket in the early hours of May 28, 1999.

Some theorised that this had been a case of mistaken identity and it was in fact Fraser's client, commonly known as 'Joe' , that had been the assassin's target.

Giuseppe was previously wanted, and questioned, in relation to the killing of Melbourne Market fruiterer Alphonse Muratore in 1992.

In the mid 1980's, Fraser helped heroin and gun-dealer Dennis Allen set up 'Mr D Investments'. 

He was also known to his brother, Peter Allen, setting up a trust account for the heroin dealer in which he amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Peter was jailed shortly after.

Fraser was one of the last to see Dennis Allen, who died of heart failure in 1987, alive in hospital.

As solicitor for Anthony Farrell (left), one of the accused in the Walsh Street shootings, Fraser was steadfast in protecting his client.  

Farrell was held and targeted by police as the one of four Walsh Murder suspects most likely to 'break' and give up the rest of the party.

Fraser urged him repeatedly to 'keep his mouth shut' and to  'keep strong'.

Fraser had met Roberts at the Dogs Bar in St Kilda's trendy Acland street in late 1998.

Roberts had needed assistance with a workcare claim after suffering a back injury at work.

Fraser made it clear to him that he would accept cocaine as payment for his work.

The cocaine Roberts smuggled into Australia was sealed within African wall-plaques.

On the day before his flight, Mr Roberts visited Mr Fraser in his office to discuss the details of his trip.

Their conversation was bugged by devices inside the premises.

"You could hear them sniffing cocaine during the course of the conversation," Crown prosecutor, Richard Maidment later told a jury.

As Roberts and Fraser sit down to talk, Fraser pours himself a glass of red, sucks it down and exclaims, "oh that's good."

He and Roberts begin to cut up lines and turn their conversation to the importation.

The court at Fraser's ensuing hearing was told that police placed one bug in his house and three in his office.

Telephone interception devices had also been installed in the home of Mr Roberts, his wife Andrea Mohr, who-along with Mr Fraser and a long-time friend of Roberts', Carl Heinz Michael Urbanec, 46, had by this stage become the subject of intense police investigation.

Mr Maidment told the court that during their meeting, Mr Fraser gave Mr Roberts some advice for the trip.

He told Roberts that he knew how things worked and he would be on hand if anything went wrong, telling him that it could prove suspicious to have two names on the itinerary.

"Pigs shit it doesn't matter," Fraser says, recounting the story of an American couple busted at Melbourne airport.

"Look, I understand mate. I've done this, I've given pertinent advice before in these situations," Fraser boasts in a tone so that his secretary will not hear him.

As the effects of the cocaine increase, and more wine is consumed, Fraser recites wild stories of sex and drugs.

He proudly tells Roberts that the very office they are in recently played host to a cocaine fuelled sex session with a "cracker" (prostitute).

At the same time, police phone taps revealed that he was having phone sex with his wife.

"The real acid test is my wife. That's the reason I do it," Fraser says before he excuses himself from the room to break wind.

Fraser mentioned brothels, his weekend at 'The Dog's' and how one time at the Botanical Hotel in South Yarra, one of his friends wives' propositioned him.

He had recently had sex in the office with a prostitute and paid her with cocaine.

The jury was told that they discussed what might happen when Mr Roberts returned through Customs and Mr Fraser suggested that the defendant should phone him when he got back.

It was also alleged that Mr Roberts gave Mr Fraser a copy of his itinerary and notified him that he successfully passed through Sydney airport with the concealed drugs on September 10, 1999, by telling him that: "The eagle has landed mate."

"Good, good to hear you had a good holiday," Fraser replied.

While Fraser did not know it, Roberts had in fact done it tough overseas.

His luggage had been lost and his heroin-addicted wife, Andrea Mohr had badgered him constantly.

"Get your sexy ass home," Mohr told Roberts.

"I am flooded," she told her husband whom she called 'Seal'.

"I don't want you to spend another night with that woman.

Roberts assured his "kookaburra" it was all in the aid of cocaine.

"When I am finished here, I am finished with her," he told her.

Another noted part of the conversation was a discussion of Andrea Mohr's heroin habit.

They spoke about how Fraser had introduced Mr Roberts to a psychologist friend to help Ms Mohr.

It would be reasonable to assume the identity of this man was Tim Watson-Munro.

He turned himself in to police after discovering his name had appeared on the tapes.

Police monitored Mr Roberts return to Australia on September 10 and arrested him and Mohr at their St Kilda flat the night after, seizing the plaques of cocaine that were found in the boot of his car.

Urbanec was subsequently arrested.

When Roberts and Mohr were arrested, Roberts steadfastly refused the offer by the police to do himself a favour and deliver the cocaine to Fraser.

Early on September 12, 1999, and only a few hours after the other three had been taken into custody, Fraser was arrested at his home in St Kilda.

Twenty-two police raided Fraser's home at 3.35am.

The 49 year-old was arrested as his office was also being combed by police.

Federal police officer Stephen Olinder told the court he believed the cocaine allegedly imported by Werner Roberts was of high quality and about 70 per cent pure.

Fraser was charged with importing and trafficking in cocaine from January 1997 until September 1999.

The news caused shockwaves throughout the legal profession and associates wondered who had been snared on the 'Fraser Tapes'.

Despite rumblings from some members of the bar, Fraser continued to practice law.

One colleague noted how Fraser changed after his arrest.

"He was the rudest (lawyer) around and then he got charged and was quiet as a mouse," he said.

Fraser then in his words "turned dog" and implicated his trio of associates.

In October 1999, The Australian Taxation Office threatened to bankrupt Fraser for non-payment of taxes. 

Fraser was technically made bankrupt for a couple of hours, but then produced the money and persuaded the Tax Office to rescind its action.

Police found traces of cocaine on a number of items seized from Fraser's car, home and office, but Detective Senior Constable Paul Firth of the Drug Squad accepted later in court that there was no evidence that linked any of these traces to the imported drugs.  

It was perfectly possible, Firth conceded that they were left over from cocaine deals that Fraser had bought for his own use.

After his arrest Fraser admitted on a Melbourne radio show to having a six year, $2000 a week cocaine habit. 

He had been using the drug for 12 or 13 years.

"It was there. It was trendy. It was available," he said, and being used by "people with a higher profile than me, people with more money than me".

On July 10, 2000 Fraser faced Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Police had intercepted calls to Fraser's home and mobile telephones during August and September 1999.

They were apparently unable to intercept his office phone.

Federal Agent Tina Westra said that she showed a transcript of a conversation with Roberts to Fraser in a formal interview in November 1999.

Mr Geoff Chettle, for Fraser, put it to her that Fraser had "admitted he knew it [the importation] was happening, but denied any involvement".

Westra did not accept that he had denied it.

Detective Senior Constable Stephen Paton said police had monitored all of Mr. Fraser's telephone calls, taping those they felt were pertinent to their investigation.

Paton, from the Victorian drug squad, told the court police were investigating a number of people in February last year (1999) when Mr Fraser's name came up.

Paton himself was arrested and charged with drug trafficking in August 2001.

This resulted in at least one man that Paton's evidence had helped to jail being freed.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Geoff Chettle QC, Detective Paton said many conversations were with high-profile clients that would normally be subject to legal professional privilege, and were unrelated to the case.

Mr Chettle said some of those clients also were under investigation by the drug squad for other matters.

Paton said Mr Fraser soon evolved as the target of the investigation and police then bugged his home and office and recorded conversations on his office and mobile phones.

But he denied privileged conversations with Mr Fraser's criminal clients, including high-profile people police were interested in, were recorded and relayed to other police.

He agreed with defence counsel Geoff Chettle that many of the recorded calls had nothing to do with this investigation and denied interesting but otherwise irrelevant information was passed on.
"This was not an information-gathering exercise,'' he said.

Detective Paton told the court police concluded Mr Fraser was in deep financial trouble but there was no evidence of his acquiring large, unexplained sums of cash.

Fraser faced one commonwealth charge of being knowingly concerned in the importation of cocaine. He also faces five Victorian charges including trafficking, using and possessing cocaine and possessing ecstasy.

The preliminary hearing was held before Magistrate Rodney Crisp.

Asking Detective Paton if brothers of gunned-down underworld figure Mark Moran were under investigation, Paton replied they had been.

Jason Moran was a client of Fraser's and was part of what police termed the new breed of 'Bollinger' drug dealers selling to celebrities and the new rich.

The Morans seemed to be very well connected, having being noticed with celebrities and noted sports people at racecourses and nightclubs.

In criminal circles, the Morans were close associates of Alphonse Gangitano, murdered in 1998 and were running mates of many renowned armed robbers.

The essence of Fraser's defence to the trafficking charges, which carry severe penalties, is that while he may have used the drug, he certainly did not supply it to anyone else for profit.

Police admitted that analysis of his bank accounts did not show that he had received large amounts of unexplained cash and that he appeared to be in financial difficulties.

Fraser's defence to the importation charges appeared to be that he may well have known that the importation was going to happen, but he did not advise on it or get involved in any way.

The star prosecution witness earlier in the day was someone that Fraser knew well.

Before cocaine addiction laid him low, wrecked his career and caused him to plead guilty to possession of the drug in September 1999, Tim Watson-Munro was one of Australia's top forensic psychologists.

Watson-Munro had also given evidence on the part of Allan Bond as previously discussed and had established underworld connections.

One of his clients had been slain Melbourne stand-over man and amphetamines trafficker Alphonse Gangitano.

Watson-Munro had and been linked to West Australian criminal John Kizon through a 1997 police operation.

At Fraser's hearing, Watson-Munro had his own tale of anxiety, depression and damage to tell.

Cocaine addiction had helped bring him to a state where he was seeing a psychiatrist twice a week, taking anti-depressants (whose dose was doubled a month before) and taking other medication for anxiety and to help him sleep.

Having been trapped by the phone intercepts and bugs (at one point actually snorting cocaine), Watson-Munro made a statement to police in September 1999, in the hope that he would be treated more leniently.

In this, he appears to have alleged that Fraser supplied him with cocaine. 

He was asked by Chettle whether he had evidence that Fraser sold drugs to him for profit.

He said he did not.

He agreed that he had asked Fraser to "procure" for him "as a friend".......some friend bucket-mouth Watson-Munro turned out to be!

"It's a bit like going down to the shop and asking someone to pick up something for me while you're there?" Chettle asked.

"Yes," said Watson-Munro," that's a sound analogy."

Watson-Munro talked of the code he and Fraser used when discussing drugs over the phone.

"I've got the boots and I'm ready to play footy," was one such euphemism to put listeners off the scent.

"I'm going to see a man who has lots of concrete blocks in his car," was another.

Chettle then quoted from the police transcript of Fraser's interview in which Fraser said: "I did not give any advice on how to go overseas, how to commit an offence, where to source this substance from, how to finance it, who to take, how to do any of these things.

I'm not talking just as a lawyer, I'm talking as a person who has travelled extensively, and be careful coming through customs and give me a ring when you get through."

The man running the importation charge against Fraser was a young DPP solicitor called Berdj Tchakerian.  

In November 1997, Tchakerian faced Fraser in rather different circumstances across a prosecutor's office in Zug, Switzerland.

At the time, Fraser was acting for Alan Bond, who was being investigated for concealing assets from his creditors, and Tchakerian was handling the case for the DPP. 

Both had flown to Zug for the examination of Bond's Swiss banker, Jurg Bollag, who was alleged to be hiding many millions of dollars worth of Bond's assets.

Fraser emerged on the winning side then, after Bollag's refusal to answer questions led to Operation Oxide being abandoned.

On September 25, 2001, the trial of Werner Paul Roberts began in the County Court.

In front of Judge Leo Hart, the jury of 14 was told that Fraser was part of a 'support crew' involved in the importation of large amounts of cocaine.

Crown prosecutor, Richard Maidment, said that Fraser was a cocaine user and sometimes supplied with the drug by the groups alleged importer, Mr Roberts.

Werner Roberts, 54, pleaded not guilty to one count of importing a commercial quantity of cocaine and one count of possessing a commercial quantity of cocaine.

Carl Urbanec pleaded not guilty to being knowingly concerned with the importation of cocaine.

The pair, however, has pleaded guilty to trafficking the drug.

On September 26, 2001, the hearing continued with evidence given about Fraser and Roberts involvement with two drug squad detectives.  

The court heard that the detectives organised a sham because one of them wanted to get up a high-profile Melbourne solicitor "at all costs."

Malcolm Rosenes said he would fix up Werner Roberts if he did not cooperate with a scheme to implicate Fraser, the court was told.

Fraser was allegedly the prime target of a drug squad operation.

Rosenes was in charge of Operation Regent and Paton was one of his two deputies.

Roberts' barrister, George Traczyk, told the jury his client would give evidence that Mr Rosenes accosted him as he was leaving Mr Fraser's Lonsdale Street chambers before blackmailing him.

Mr Traczyk said Rosenes had learnt about Roberts association with Fraser from the many taps they had put on Fraser during recent months.

Rosenes searched Mr Roberts, found a small amount of cocaine on him and said "I could bust you, but I'm after Fraser."

He then coaxed Roberts into a "secret arrangement."

Mr Traczyk said Rosenes told Mr Roberts he wanted to help him to help and if he did not, he would fix him up with a large amount of cocaine and he would spend a long time in jail.

In his opening, Mr Traczyk said the importation was a sham organised by Mr Rosenes to implicate Mr Fraser, who he was desperate to get at all costs.

He said Rosenes told Mr Roberts he was to go overseas on the pretext he was going to get cocaine and could :"leave the rest to us."

Mr Traczyk said that after refusing to be part of the plan, Mr Roberts and his ex-girlfriend arrived at Sydney airport on September 9, hired a car and drove towards Melbourne.

The pair chose to stay at a motel in Liverpool and in the early hours somebody arrived at the door with the wall plaques.

Traczyk said that the person was Stephen Paton, a colleague of Mr Rosenes.

As mentioned earlier, Paton had been arrested on drug trafficking charges.

The day before, his colleague Operation Regent colleague Malcolm Rosenes was also taken into custody on similar charges.

Most of these were not associated with Paton.

Paton then instructed Roberts to deliver the plaques to Fraser.

The prosecution did not indicate that the two policemen, on bail awaiting their respective hearings, would be called as witnesses.

On October 1, 2001, the court hearing Roberts case heard that Fraser might have been behind an attempt to kill Werner Roberts while he was in jail.

Police had received information that Fraser was rumoured to have organised a 'hot-shot' as Roberts was being held in Port Phillip Prison.

Sen -Det Paul Firth told the court that after Roberts had been remanded in custody, had a convicted murderer mix up a heroin shot for him.

Firth said that police were told of the overdose and informed that the shot had been administered by another person.

Roberts first told police he had mixed it up himself, but changed his story shortly after hearing the jailhouse rumour that corroborated what the police had told him.

Firth also told the court that Fraser mixed with drug traffickers who had been known to use violence.

"Fraser associated both professionally  and socially with people of that type," Firth said.

Sen-Det Firth denied that he was trying to frighten Roberts.

Firth told the court that police could not corroborate the claim Fraser had given Mr Roberts $50,000.

George Traczyk, for Roberts, suggested to Det-Sgt Firth that there was a feeling of great anger or hostility to Mr Fraser after the acquittal of the Walsh Street murder suspects."

"It would be fair to say certain people didn't like him as a person," Firth told the court.

On October 4, 2001, the court heard that Fraser offered six months of free legal services in exchange for eight ounces of cocaine.

Mr Fraser also accepted a quarter ounce of cocaine for part payment of Werner Roberts legal bill before he later put up $120,000 to finance the importation of 5.5kg of the drug, the County Court was told.

In a statement to police, made by Werner Roberts after his initial arrest, he said that he met Fraser at the Dogs Bar in St Kilda in March or April 1999.

Mr Roberts told police it was obvious Mr Fraser used cocaine because of his sniffing and hyperactive demeanour, the jury heard.

Later, Mr Fraser accepted from Roberts a quarter of an ounce of cocaine instead of $1,500, which was owed to him by Mr Roberts for legal work in relation to a Work Care cover claim, the court was told.

The jury heard Mr Fraser arranged a deal that would have seen a jeweller friend pay $25,000 for eight ounces of cocaine.

But the jeweller could not produce the money so Mr Fraser offered to place himself on a six month retainer for any legal work Mr Roberts required.

The court was also told that Mr Roberts trip to Africa to collect cocaine was funded by Fraser who gave him $100,000 for the drugs as well as $40,000 for the cost of the trip.

On October 5, 2001, Mr Trakczyk accused detective Stephen Paton of giving Mr Roberts eight African cocaine filled wall plaques after he arrived back in Australia.

"That is a blatant lie," Mr Paton told the court.

Roberts' defence alleged that during an overnight stay in Sydney before Mr Roberts drove back to Melbourne, Mr Paton, in a pre-arranged meeting, left his own motel nearby and put the plaques in the boot of Mr Roberts hire car.

Mr Paton denied the allegation and said he slept all night in a room with fellow drug squad officer Det Sen Sgt Wayne Strawhorn at a local pub.

The plaques containing the cocaine were seized when Mr Roberts returned to his St Kilda flat the following night.

It was later revealed that Paton and Rosenes gave their evidence to a jury who were unaware the pair were on bail after having each been charged with unrelated drug offences.

In evidence before the trial started, Bill Stuart for Ubanec, said police ethical standards department summaries against Paton and Rosenes proved they were guilty of high level corruption. 

However Judge Hart refused to allow the pair to be questioned about the charges they faced after they both indicated in the absence of the jury they would not answer questions on the grounds they might incriminate themselves.

On October 24, 2001, Judge Leo Hart lifted a suppression order on Fraser's guilty pleas to being knowingly concerned in the importation and also of trafficking cocaine and ecstasy.

It was revealed that Fraser had admitted to helping his client (Roberts) import the cocaine and closed his legal practice in preparation for a pre-sentence hearing in the County Court set down for November.

The judge also convicted Carl Ubanec of being knowingly concerned with the importation.

Andrea Mohr had earlier pleaded guilty as well.

On November 14, 2001, Fraser spent his first night behind bars after County Court Judge Leo Hart remanded him in custody.

The County Court heard Fraser's culpability in a major cocaine importation was aggravated because he was an experienced criminal lawyer.

The pre-sentence hearing was told Fraser's career in the legal industry eroded after he developed a 4-gram-a-day coke habit.

This cost him about $100,000 a year and lead to him assisting in the importation,

Fraser's legal team - Col Heliotis, QC, and Geoff Chettle, called more than a dozen witnesses to illustrate how Fraser became a slave to cocaine.

On December 3, 2001, Fraser was sentenced to seven years jail with a minimum of five.

Judge Leo Hart said that Fraser had acted disgracefully and dishonourably.

He said that Fraser would spend at least five years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.

Werner Paul Roberts was found guilty of importing cocaine and sentenced to 13 years jail with a non-parole period of 10 years.

His counsel foreshadowed an appeal against the conviction.

Fraser's barrister Con Heliotis, QC., had asked Judge Hart to impose a short, sharp minimum sentence of between six and 12 months.

Robert's wife Andrea Mohr and Carl Urbanec were also found guilty.

Mohr was jailed for eight years with a minimum of five and Urbanec was sentenced to nine years with a minimum of six.

The Judge said Fraser, a father of two, had been exposed to the worst elements of society, but added: "A legal practitioner must not succumb to such temptations."

He said that the community and the legal profession expected a sentence that would deter others.

A stunned Fraser stood frozen in the dock of the County Court unable to let go of the railing.

Fraser's shocked legal team was expected to appeal against the sentence.

The non-parole period was up to ten times what they had asked for, and well above what the prosecution had expected.

Det-Supt David Newton refused to reveal the identities or professions of drug dealers and criminals who were identified through the "Fraser Tapes' but warned them that their names had been put on police files.

On January 14, 2002, the inquest into Alphonse Gangitano's murder begun.  

Coroner Iain West was expected to hear from several of Gangitano's former henchmen, including Jason Moran. 

Moran was paroled the previous September and left Australia amid fears for his life. Other associates expected to contribute to the court proceedings included Graham Kinniburgh.

There was speculation that evidence at the inquest would include a police tape allegedly featuring Moran's lawyer, disgraced solicitor Andrew Fraser but he refused to give evidence.