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Nick Stamatopoulos, the son of the
owner of the Definia Cafe, said the fugitive drug boss came in about
12.30pm with two men.
Mokbel was drinking coffee with a
Greek citizen and an Australian national.
Mr Stamatopoulos said police
officers came from a table at the cafe and arrested Mokbel, while
five other officers suddenly appeared from outside and helped bundle
him away.
"They took him very quickly. I
was surprised — we've had celebrities in here before, but
criminals, no," he said.
Mr Stamatopoulos said it was the
first time he had seen Mokbel in the cafe.
"We don't remember him. He
didn't look like a criminal."
Australian Federal Police Deputy
Commissioner John Lawler said Mokbel complied with Greek police when
they approached him.
At first hear appeared
relaxed, believing he would be able
to bribe his way out of any minor
passport offence.
But his face
dropped when he saw the Purana
detective.
He had the good grace to
say: "I don't know how you did
it, but you've done a brilliant job,"
and agreed to accompany the officers
to Athens' police headquarters to answer questions.
Greek authorities said Mokbel offered a $1.6 million
bribe to escape.
A police source later confirmed
he had twice tried indirectly to bribe
local police before he realised they knew his identity.
"He left it to be
understood how much money we wanted to let him go,"
the source said
Theodoros Angelakis,
64, the Greek man Mokbel
was with, owns a company
for buying and selling yachts — existing only on paper
and registered three months before — which Mokbel was
funding.
With silver hair and
pockmarked skin, Angelakis, said he had lived in
Australia but "wasn't fond of the place",
he gave Tony Mokbel the Volkswagen four-wheel-drive, took
him to smart restaurants and planned to go into business with him.
The man told police he met Mokbel a month
before in a cafe in Glyfada.
Mokbel introduced himself as
Greek-Australian businessman Stephen Papas and said he was keen to
invest money in Greece.
Shortly after, Angelakis set up a shipping
company in which Mokbel planned to invest.
The businessman denies all knowledge of Mokbel's past and
police are not investigating him.
However, they are investigating
his company, and whether Mokbel brought or planned to bring
"dirty" money from Australia to invest in it.
"We have suspicions and we are looking into whether Mokbel
was laundering money here," said a senior Greek police
officer involved in the case.
Angelakis would not be charged with any crimes, sources said.
They said Mokbel was
"keeping a low profile" in Athens and not
engaging in any criminal activity there.
Mokbel was still claiming he was Papas when they arrived at Athens
police headquarters.
But when Greek police revealed they knew he
was Tony Mokbel, an Australian of Lebanese background wanted in
Australia, he replied, "Yes, that's me."
"Once he realised we knew everything he was a bit
shocked," the officer said.
Police questioned him over six hours.
Always
co-operative, he gave conflicting stories about how long he had
been in Greece.
 He did not ask for a lawyer, and Yiannis
Vlachos (left),
who now represented him and took the job through a mutual friend,
did not see him until just before his first court appearance.
Mokbel was then taken to his apartment.
Danielle
McGuire, was not with her boyfriend when he was arrested.
She was home with the couple's baby and her elder daughter, when police arrived to
search the property.
She was surprised but her
behaviour was impeccable, an officer said.
Police took away a
laptop computer but found nothing illegal in the home.
His fake passport under the name of Stephen Papas also yielded
no clues.
Since it had no stamps in it, Mokbel had not used it to
leave Australia or enter Greece.
The officer assumed Mokbel had
entered Greece under another passport, then destroyed it.
From
remarks Mokbel made, it seems he may have flown in from Germany.
Later in the day, three Australian police saw
Mokbel for the first time, and even then only for a few minutes.
"Victoria Police can
confirm that it has received information that Tony Mokbel has been
arrested and is in the custody of the Greek authorities," a
Victoria Police spokesman said.
"At this stage, due to ongoing
operational activity, it would be inappropriate to comment
further."
Mokbel was on Interpol's top 100 list.
He was arrested as part of operation Magnum, a joint exercise between
Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and Greek police.
The Victorian Government offered a $1
million reward in April for information leading to Mokbel's capture.
Authorities said the reward led to several people coming forward
with vital clues.
It was not clear if the
reward would be claimed.
Mokbel's legal representative in
Greece later said he was unaware
of the $1 million bounty offered for his capture.
Jannis Vlahos said that his client was
stunned when informed such a large reward existed.
"He was not
aware," he said, "he was shocked."
A court was later told the police operation to
track down the fugitive has cost $1.3 million.
The court documents include a police spreadsheet,
tallying the cost of Operation Magnum at $1,310,766 as of June 30, 2007.
That could soar if Mokbel fights his extradition.
Expenditure includes salaries, allowances, money for evidentiary drug
purchases and flights and accommodation for police required to identify Mokbel
when he was captured in Greece.
Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland said Victoria Police
played a major part in Mokbel's arrest.
"We had some
information that we were able to provide to the Greek authorities
that he would be at a certain cafe," he said.
"They had
been mounting a surveillance operation looking for him over four or
five days.
"On the basis of information we
provided they went to the cafe. They found him there (and) spoke to
him.
"I understand he maintained in
fact that he was someone else. He maintained that he was a different
person for a period of time."
Commissioner Nixon expressed some concern that the fact Mokbel is the father of a Greek
child may in some way complicate his extradition to Australia.
Ms McGuire had been co-operating with
Greek police but was not in custody.
"If she is in possession of
documents that are falsified and has entered the country unlawfully,
then I would imagine there will be potential charges available to
the Greek authorities should they wish to exercise that
discretion," Mr Lawler said.
George Cholidis said the Athens District Attorney
told police to hold Mokbel until he can be extradited to
Australia.
"Inquiries are being held to
find if he has any connections here and whether he has committed
other crimes, apart from the false passport and false driver's
licence," Mr Cholidis said.
"We don't think he has done it
all by himself."
Photos taken after his arrest show a
bearded and glum-looking Mokbel both with and without his
ill-fitting wig.
Mokbel claims the rug moved out of place when his cap
was removed before Greek police took a mugshot and was not as bad as
it looked in the photo.
Hellenic Police
served Mokbel with a provisional arrest warrant —
which marked the start of the extradition process.
An AFP spokesman said the
warrant was based on four outstanding Australian-based
warrants.
They are: being knowingly concerned in the
importation of 2.9 kilograms of cocaine; the murder of
Lewis Moran; two counts of incitement over the order of
100 kilograms of amphetamine and 200 litres of a
chemical from Europe in October 2005 and three counts of
drug trafficking.
"We have to prove we have a set
of charges that Tony Mokbel should answer and we think that's the
case," Chief Commissioner Nixon said
"In many cases people fight this
kind of extradition but we believe we do have sufficient matters,
some of the ones he already has been convicted of and perhaps other
matters as well."
Ms Nixon said she was confident
Mokbel would be extradited.
Australia and Greece have an
extradition treaty in place.
The Purana taskforce was confident
Mokbel would be held in custody long enough to enable Australian
authorities to apply for him to be handed over.
Australian Government officials began
immediate negotiations to get Mokbel back to Melbourne where he will
serve a sentence for drug importation and face a murder charge.
Australian police officers would
escort Mokbel back to Victoria.
Some believed that bringing
Mokbel back from Greece would
take at least a month — or years if he fights his extradition in
the Greek courts.
Extradition is a 15-stage process
that normally takes several weeks if the person involved does not
fight.
A Federal Government source said:
"The process could be stretched out for years if he opposes his
extradition in the courts." The process will begin with an
extradition application being prepared by the federal
Attorney-General's Department in co-operation with the Victorian
Director of Public Prosecutions and Victorian police.
That request must be approved by the
federal Justice Minister or the Attorney-General and then sent to
Athens through diplomatic channels.
When he does return, Mokbel will
likely be flown to Australia on a scheduled commercial flight. He is
not considered enough of a security risk to require a return, David
Hicks-style, in a chartered executive jet.
It is unlikely that Greek authorities
would hold up Mokbel's extradition because of any offences he may
have committed in Greece, according to emeritus professor of
international law at Sydney University, Professor Ivan Shearer.
He said the Greek courts had a right
to put Mokbel on trial over any offences he might have committed in
their country and to convict and sentence him if found guilty before
they allowed Australia's extradition request. It would not be an
alternative but would defer the process until the Greek authorities
had finished dealing with him, he said.
However, under Australia's
extradition treaty with Greece, signed in 1991, there is also
provision for Greek authorities to waive their right to charge
Mokbel over any crimes he may have committed while in Greece under a
false identity.
Greece's executive authorities —
the justice and police ministers — can weigh up "whether they
would be worried with relative trifling offences compared to the
serious offences for which he would be tried in Australia" —
murder and narcotic offences.
"I think the Greek authorities
would waive their right to prosecute for those," Professor
Shearer said.
On receiving a formal application
from Australia for Mokbel's extradition, they can request that the
Greek judge hearing charges against Mokbel look at the evidence
submitted by Australian authorities.
The judge can weigh up if the
offences Australian authorities allege Mokbel committed in Australia
would have constituted an offence under Greek law, punishable by at
least one year's imprisonment. The judge can then commit Mokbel for
extradition.
Under the terms of the treaty,
Australian authorities have 45 days from the day of his arrest to
formally request extradition to Australia.
Victorian authorities were
examining whether further charges can be laid within
that time.
Ironically, had Mokbel, a Lebanese
national by birth, stayed in Lebanon, he may have evaded or delayed
extradition as Australia has no formal extradition treaty with
Lebanon.
More than 120 police arrested 14 people
after simultaneous raids across Melbourne which immediately followed
Mokbel's arrest.
The raids occurred
in suburbs including Brunswick and Doncaster and were conducted on
key figures in Mokbel's empire, including members of his family,
after the arrest was verified.
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon told 3AW's Neil Mitchell that twenty-two properties were raided
and of those arrested eight people were charged with a range of
Mokbel related offences and placed in custody to appear in
the Magistrates' Court.
Police seized motor vehicles, cash,
drugs, guns, pre-cursor chemicals used to manufacture amphetamines and drug
production equipment.
Police have said that five of those
arrested were part of a drug syndicate known as "The
Company".
One female police officer was injured
in a physical altercation during the raids.
John Lawler of the AFP said that he
expected more arrests.
Eight of those arrested were placed
in custody.
  They were:
George Elias,
39, of Bonnie Doon (left); Chafic Issa, 43, of Clayton South
(right); Robert Anthony Benedetti,
41 of Templestowe; Christopher Lee
Ferraro, 28, of East Doncaster;
Batholomew Rizzo, 28 of Box Hill North; Joseph John Mansour, 28, of Park
Orchards; David David Tricarico, 23, of Doncaster East and
Andrew Ryan,
24, of Mitcham.
Police took control of more than $300,000 cash as well as properties, cars, jewellery and
furniture from five of the men.
Mobster memorabilia, including signed and framed pictures from the hit mafia
TV show Sopranos and of the memorial set of the Al Pacino film Scarface
were among the items claimed in Supreme Court restraining orders.
Cristal and Dom Perignon champagne, Wolf Blass wine, a Versace bracelet and
men's gold jewellery were also covered by the orders.
A Muhammad Ali "I am the greatest" photograph, a Carmen
Electra photo, a framed picture of Madonna, an autographed Wesley
Snipes photo and an autographed Michael Schumacher cap were also
confiscated.
Six houses allegedly controlled by the five men were covered
under the restraining orders.
Epping and Warranwood properties belonging to Ferraro and a Box
Hill North property owned by Rizzo were claimed.
 Other controlled properties were: The Park Orchards property of
Joseph Mansour (left), who faces one count of trafficking a commercial
quantity of amphetamines; the Ringwood North home of Benedetti and
the Coburg property of Tricaricco.
Mr Ferraro's Subaru and Nissan sedans were seized, while Mr
Rizzo's Holden ute, Audi, Nissan and Mitsubishi sedans, Seadoo
Jetski and a Mick Doohan memorial motorcycle helmet were among the
items frozen.
Mr Mansour's black leather couches, his dining room table and
eight leather chairs were claimed.
A panel van and a Harley Davidson motorbike allegedly owned by Mr
Benedetti and Mr Tricaricco's two BMWs and a Toyota Land cruiser
were seized.
Mr Rizzo had four Westpac bank accounts and more than $188,000
confiscated. Two ANZ bank accounts and $7000 were confiscated from
Mr Mansour while Mr Benedetti had $106,000 frozen.
Justice Robert Osborn's orders were made after a lawyer for the
Director of Public Prosecutions applied to the court under the
Confiscation Act.
The restraining orders prevent the sale or disposal of the goods.
The men appeared in the
Melbourne Magistrates' Court the following day.
All eight faced charges of allegedly
trafficking commercial quantities of drugs, which included
amphetamines, cocaine, methylamphetamine and methamphetamine.
 Christopher Ferraro, charged with one
count of trafficking a commercial quantity of amphetamines, also faces
charges for allegedly possessing a long-arm rifle and ammunition without a
licence.
The eight accused were brought two by two into a
crowded court, packed with salivating media and distressed friends and relatives
of the charged men.
 Supporters of David Tricarico, charged with one count of trafficking a
commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, occupied much of the
back row and left when he disappeared into custody.
 A woman wept on learning that Robert
Benedetti,
who faces four charges including
trafficking amphetamines and cocaine,
had appeared in court but refused to confirm her identity when approached
afterwards.
In a side row, the mood was more cheerful; police
joked about the prospect of a plane trip to Greece.
The court ordered that the men be
provided with summaries of the allegations against them within seven
days.
 Rob Melasecca, acting for several of
the men, made a special plea on behalf of the last man to appear,
Andrew Ryan, 24, of Mitcham (left), who had wanted a bail application made.
Mr Melasecca made a special request that
Ryan be transferred out
of the Melbourne Custody Centre to a remand centre or assessment
prison as soon as possible telling the court his client was a
full-time student who also had two jobs and whose partner was
overdue with the couple's first child.
He needed to be moved out of the
remand centre if he was going to have the facilities to be able to
organise for the exams he is due to take soon, and to speak to his
wife. The magistrate said she would request that he had priority for
transfer.
Magistrate Susan Wakeling said she
would request that Ryan be assessed immediately.
Ryan, tall, muscular and handsome, stood
stock-still in the dock as she explained that he would be remanded in custody.
His mother held a crumpled handkerchief and tried
to stop her tears from falling.
 Carrying 145 kilograms on a small frame,
Bartholomew Rizzo sat scowling, his arms folded across his broad belly, as Rob
Melasecca recited his woes to the magistrate.
Rizzo is also charged with one count of
trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine.
He is
overweight, on sedation, on sleeping pills, on anti-anxiety medication, on
morphine for pain, on medicine to protect his stomach lining from all the
medicines, and on anti-inflammatories for a shoulder reconstruction.
Which, by the way, your honour, might now need to
become a shoulder replacement because being handcuffed "caused considerable
injury to the shoulder," Mr Melasecca said.
He asked his client to show the magistrate his
hands, and Rizzo raised his, gently curved, as if he were holding a large
hamburger.
Mr Melasecca said this was Rizzo's first day
without his medications in some time, and all he had been offered so far for his
ailments were two Panadol tablets. The magistrate noted that Rizzo would require
a medical assessment in prison.
The men were remanded in custody to reappear for
a committal hearing on January 31 next year.
Their lawyers were not happy that it would be six
months before the Crown finalised its brief — "it's an extraordinary
amount of time", acknowledged magistrate Wakeling — and Mr Melasecca
pointed out that a lack of detail about charges made it impossible at this stage
to apply for bail for his clients.
Prosecutor Kim Swadesir had successfully argued
for Ms Wiakeling to allow six months to prepare the brief, stating they had an
avalanche of evidence to compile. That included transcribing 1000 phone
intercepts and 1000 hours of listening device evidence, and conducting drug
analysis on three kilograms of amphetamines, four ounces of cocaine and 200
ecstasy tablets.
Ms Swadesir said the prosecution case would also
include bank documents detailing funds transferred between Australia and Greece.
Ms Wakeling ordered the prosecution to provide
some of the evidence — untranscribed compact disc copies of the phone
intercept and listening device material — to the defence within two months.
It was later reported in the Herald
Sun that four members of the alleged drug
trafficking gang met as youngsters at a prestigious Melbourne
Catholic school.
The group attended Whitefriars
College, at Donvale, in Melbourne's east, and three were in
the same class group.
Staff at the school were in
shock in the wake of the arrests.
The school confirmed
Bartholomew Rizzo, Joseph John Mansour
and Christopher Lee Ferraro graduated in
1996 after completing year 12.
David Tricarico left the school after year 9 in 1998.
Whitefriars' principal Fr Paul
Cahill said the school was in shock after the arrest of its
former students.
"I am shocked and
disappointed and saddened that these fellows have been charged
with what they have been charged," he said.
"It is not the sort of
story you like to read about your past students."
But Fr Cahill said the
youngsters had not shown any tendency towards drugs or drug
dealing while at school.
"While they were at school
there was nothing that would suggest they might be getting
involved in the sorts of activities with which they have been
charged," he said.
A former Whitefriars student in
the year ahead of Tricarico said the accused drug trafficker
had been a young leader at the school and revelations of his
arrest were an "absolute surprise".
 The
wife of murdered underworld figure Lewis Moran
said she toasted the
capture of Mokbel.
Judy Moran said Mokbel, who has been
charged with murdering her husband, would now pay the price.
"All these predators have to pay
the price for the carnage they have caused, especially Mr Mokbel and
his co-accused people," Mrs Moran said on ABC radio.
She said she toasted Mokbel's capture
with a cup of coffee when she heard the news the morning after 'Fat'
Tony was taken into custody.
Renate Mokbel, the sister-in-law of
Tony Mokbel will remain in custody even though the former fugitive
has been arrested.
Ms Mokbel put her house up as a
surety for Tony Mokbel before he absconded.
The house has been seized as an
alleged proceed of crime.
Police have said that although Tony
Mokbel is back in custody, he did skip bail meaning that the surety
was forfeited and that she still faces a perjury charge.
 On
June 7, 2007, Mokbel appeared before a public
prosecutor in Athens.
Danielle McGuire was standing nearby with baby Renate
in her
arms.
Sunglasses were perched on McGuire's darkened long
hair as she tried
to dodge waiting media outside the court.
Her elder daughter Brittany burst into tears as he
kissed her on the head.
Mokbel awaited his
hearing in a packed court alongside African prostitutes, men on
various charges, female drug users, and a transvestite handcuffed to
a policewoman waited outside.
He joked and laughed with his captors saying, "this is the biggest
brothel I've ever seen".
Mokbel smiled and chatted to
family and friends.
He spoke proudly of his 32 godchildren in Australia and how he was looking
forward to seeing them again.
Tanned and dressed in a two-tone grey
T-shirt, light blue jeans and black thongs, he had the relaxed
manner of a man on holiday, despite the handcuffs that had ended his
15 months of the high life on the run.
Even though handcuffed, Mokbel
managed to make a mobile phone call.
As his case was called at 8pm
Melbourne time, he was led to the courtroom about 100 metres
away by a policeman.
 Mokbel and his legal team
indicated they would fight attempts to extradite him.
When asked whether he agreed to
extradition procedures being brought against him by Australian
police, Yiannis Vlachos, said his
client did not agree.
Mr Vlachos also
said Mokbel "
does not believe he will get a fair trial in
Australia".
At the preliminary hearing Mokbel signed papers to confirm he was Tony
Mokbel, but said he
would not co-operate with attempts to return him to Melbourne.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel
would have voluntarily agreed to the extradition to
serve a minimum nine-year jail term on cocaine charges
had he not been charged with the murder of crime boss
Lewis Moran.
His lawyer said Mokbel could not deny the
allegations of a false passport but claimed the Lewis Moran murder
charge was a police conspiracy.
A defiant Mokbel, in a statement
to an Athens' prosecutor, accused Victorian police of fabricating
the murder charge in a bid to win his extradition.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel denied
any link to the murder.
"My client told me the
Australian charges are a conspiracy by the prosecutor in order to
persuade Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant for him."
"It's a set-up
accusation reliant on the evidence of a convicted
murderer who has not until now said that Mokbel was
involved," he said.
The defiant claim came as
it emerged that Australian Federal Police Commissioner
Mick Keelty would arrive in Athens to thank Greek
authorities for helping catch the runaway.
Mr Keelty was at a
conference of South-East Asian police chiefs in
Singapore when Greek police arrested Mokbel.
He was to
hold a press conference with the Hellenic police chief,
Lieutenant-General Anastassios Dimoshakis.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel was holding up
well in jail but was concerned about his children.
"The problem is he has a baby of
three months, born here in Greece, and this is something very
unpleasant for him...he has also an 11-year-old daughter and it's
not very pleasant for her to see her father in this situation."
He also denied Mokbel had been living a
luxury life in Athens.
"He has spent some money in the
time he was here, but no more than what the usual Greek family
spent," he said.
"It is his opinion that this is
why Australian authorities want him so badly, because they think
that there's a lot of money behind him and that's something he
denies anyway."
Danielle Maguire,
paced around the room.
She had the couple's baby girl swaddled in a
white blanket in her arms.
Mr Vlachos said his
client had been "moving around very obviously" in Greece.
"He wasn't hiding, he loves Greece, and he
has even learnt some Greek."
Mokbel complained about the
rotten conditions in his cell at Athens' Security Police
headquarters, and asked to be moved.
A security police source said
complaints about accommodation had been met with a gruff: "This
is not a hotel."
After the hearing, Mokbel was
put in an unmarked and returned to a Greek jail on immigration and false document
charges.
Greek police later revealed
they feared Mokbel would attempt an escape during his court hearing.
 Mokbel is facing forgery charges and
is expected to face further charges for entering the country
illegally having been charged
over the passport held in the name of Stephen Papas.
Mr Vlachos said it would be up to the court
to decide whether Mokbel would be charged with possession of false
papers in Greece or face extradition proceedings.
The false passport offence carries a small
fine or a jail term of up to three months.
Mokbel was being held in the lock-up at police
headquarters. He was expected to be transferred to the
high-security Korydallos prison, south of Athens, once convicted on the forgery
charge.
Danielle McGuire retrieved
Mokbel's infamous wig from the custody
of Greek police, at the insistence of the captured fugitive.
McGuire collected the
hairpiece and other Mokbel belongings including sunglasses, $2700 in
euros and six mobile phones.
Deputy Commissioner Overland described Mokbel's wig as a "shocker".
"But the disguise is reasonably
effective," he said. "I'm not sure I'd have recognised
him.
"I think the wig, in a way,
distracts your attention. You look at it and just think it's so bad
you don't look past that.
"I guess it didn't work for him
in the end.
"Nice try."
Ongoing investigations into
Mokbel may uncover more about
the accused gangland killer, Commissioner Nixon said.
"It is his network that we are
alleging is involved with him in drugs, transfer of funds, in fraud
- a whole set of crimes that he and other people are responsible
for."
The Purana gangland taskforce was
continuing to chase leads relating to Mokbel's alleged
Melbourne-based gang.
"It has been a very big
operation and there still may be more to come," Ms Nixon said.
"We have dealt with much of it,
but this is ongoing operation and there are always things that come
out of investigations that, as you start to talk to people as you
start to continue investigations, you learn more."
On June 8, 2007, police continued to dismantle Tony Mokbel's Melbourne drug empire, dismantling a clandestine drug laboratory believed to belong to him.
The lab, complete with drums of chemicals, was uncovered at a
self-storage centre in Alexandra, about 130km northeast of
Melbourne.
"A number of items, namely pre-cursor chemicals, were
located which were consistent with the manufacture of
methamphetamines," police said.
The Herald Sun believes a receipt allegedly found during a raid
on a country property on the night of Tony
Mokbel's Athens arrest led police to the storage
centre.
Members of the Victoria Police clandestine laboratory squad dismantled the drug lab.
The storage centre owner, who did not want to be named, said she
was shocked to learn it had become the centre of a major police
operation.
She is not under any suspicion of being involved with the drug
gang.
"People approach me about hiring them out and they get given
a key," the woman said. "I don't look at what people store
in the sheds."
Det-Insp Jim O'Brien, head of the Purana Taskforce, said the bust was just another step in the systematic dismantling
of Mokbel's designer drug empire.
On June 8, 2007, Mokbel spoke to the press when
he returned to court for his misdemeanour false
passport charge to be heard.
He sat impassively in his seat
after the judge called a one-hour recess ahead of the court's
afternoon session at about 1.30pm local time (2030 AEST).
Handcuffed and flanked by
plain-clothes police, Mokbel sat in the back corner of the courtroom
waiting for his case to be called.
Danielle McGuire, sat
and spoke with Mokbel, as did his lawyer, Yiannis Vlachos.
McGuire's daughter and the couples' infant daughter were also present at the court
compound.
A hot-tempered Ms McGuire lashed out
at the Herald Sun's photographer, grabbing her wrist and trying to
snatch the camera.
The Greek photographer couldn't
understand the furious words, but the sentiment was obvious from Ms
McGuire's wild-cat actions: back off and leave me alone.
Later, Ms McGuire approached the
photographer and apologised for her actions.
"I am trying to protect my
children, you must understand that," she said.
Mokbel spoke to The Age and AAP
in an
extraordinary interview in the packed Athens courtroom.
Mokbel said he had run from Australia
because he had no chance of defending himself in jail and declared he "would be on a plane
tomorrow" if the Australian Government was prepared to
negotiate with him on the charges he would face.
Insisting life on the run was "awful", he said:
"I would be on a plane tomorrow if the Australian Government
would agree to sort out the truth from the crap."
"I would not want one cent of the community spent on me.
I'm no different from any other person."
"When you are on the run you would not
wish it on anyone.
"You miss your family and your friends and you don't have
a real life at all. You don't have the appetite to do anything.
Your thoughts always go back not forwards."
He said the impact on his family had been "devastation
from all angles — not only my family but my friends are going
through a hard time".
Mokbel said he fled Australia because he could not defend
himself while in jail.
"I know what Acacia (maximum security wing of Barwon
Prison) was like, being in there having to fight a case. You have
no hope of winning.
"One day I am going to go back to Australia," he
predicted.
Mokbel also said he is
confident of beating an extradition bid by Australian police.
"I will fight the extradition
process 100 per cent," he said.
"I've been told that I have a
very good chance.
"I don't think I'll get a fair
go in Australia."
Denying he was involved in the murder of Lewis Moran, with which he is charged,
Mokbel said: "Mate,
I deny full stop all this."
Mokbel said that he "did not even know" the paid
hitman who has pleaded guilty to the murder of Moran
and
made a sworn statement that he was paid by Mokbel and Carl
Williams.
"I don't even know him. I met him in prison after the
event," Mokbel said.
"Carl Williams got up and thank God he told the truth
about my situation."
Williams, who is serving a 35-year jail term on multiple murder
counts, claimed in court that Mokbel was not involved in Moran's
murder.
But Victorian Supreme Court Justice Betty King dismissed
Williams as a liar, saying last month his evidence was
"unbelievable, even incredible at times".
"It was, in my view, designed to ensure that it would
provide no evidence against any person other than those who are
already dead, convicted or have pleaded guilty to various
offences," Justice King told Williams.
Mokbel said he had no reason to hurt Lewis Moran because the
Morans had "never done anything wrong to me".
"We were all friends and it (the underworld war) was the
saddest thing happening, it was just sad," he said.
"Williams has got 35 years, that's sad. I know he has got
to pay a price for what he did.
"I feel for the family of the Morans. It was just
stupidity."
Mokbel said he knew he would never get a lenient sentence in
Australia but "if I were going to jail for things that I did
that would be OK".
He also believed his case had been
discussed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Greek
counterpart, Costas Karamanlis, when the two met in Australia last
month.
"There may be a political
connection because I've been told that the Greek and Australian
prime ministers met recently," he said.
Mokbel said, he held no fears
for his safety if he returned to Australia.
"I don't fear for my life
because I've done nothing wrong," he said.
Mokbel, who was jailed for 12 years in his absence for being
knowingly concerned in the importation of 2.9 kilograms of
cocaine, said, "they got me on the wrong charges."
"Conspiracy was the right charge. But not importation.
They were going for the jugular. Even (Australian federal police
agent Jarrod) Ragg, he agreed with me when I told him what my role
was there. But the prosecution did not want to accept it."
Mokbel lashed out at the Purana taskforce claiming they were
"hungry to convict whoever they would like, not for the right
reasons".
"If I had something to do with (the Moran murder), Purana
has never once talked to me.
"Not once have they come up to me and interviewed me.
"They used to come up and say 'your life is in danger'.
That put fuel on the fire. I knew my life was not in danger."
He said Purana had never produced any hard evidence linking him
to the Moran murder.
Danielle Maguire, the former Melbourne hairdresser
who spent visiting
hours with her boyfriend in the holding cells of an Athens police
station, also spoke out.
She said she
feared her children were being
caught up in the storm surrounding his capture.
"All the kids come first and that's what you've got to
think, whether he's guilty or innocent or whatever, we've got to
think of the kids," she said.
Ms Maguire also said she took exception to being referred to in
the media as a gangster's moll.
She said she believed people had already made up their minds
about her family and feared Mokbel would not receive a fair trial
if he returned to Australia.
"I've got a daughter that can't even go to school back at
home," Ms Maguire said.
"I know that I've got a past,
everyone's got a past. … People have already judged me, people
have already made their minds up."
Mokbel waited in the courtroom until his hearing was adjourned to June 22.
A throng of media
followed him out of Athens Central Court on his way back into
custody.
As he was being led into an unmarked police car, stepdaughter
Brittany followed.
He said: "Bye beautiful, I love you. I'll
talk to you later." She burst into tears as he kissed her on
the head.
The case is not expected to affect
the extradition bid.
On
June 11, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Ms McGuire faces a hefty fine when she eventually lobs
at Athens airport bound for Melbourne as she lacks a valid visa for
Greece.
Ms McGuire lacks a valid visa
for Greece and will have to hand over a wad of cash before she's
allowed to fly home.
Police aren't sure how McGuire got
into Greece, because there is no stamp in her passport.
Investigators have found no evidence
of any criminal activity by her.
Mokbel's life in a cell and likely extradition is proving
unpalatable for Ms McGuire.
"She feels lost. She has no friends, no family, no support.
It is hardest for her," say sympathetic police who are dealing
with the case.
"She is alone. She has to be strong for her children."
Though trying to keep a brave face,
the stress of her partner's capture is starting to show.
Tanned, slim and immaculately
dressed, Ms McGuire is enraged by the widespread portrayal of her in
the Australian media as "some kind of gangster's moll".
"I'm sick of my life being
portrayed as some kind of bulls--- TV drama," she said.
McGuire has served time for drug
offences in the past, and admits she's no cleanskin.
She admits her
mistakes, but doesn't believe her past, or the current
circumstances, warrant the kind of attention the family gets in
Australia.
Life on the run hasn't been easy, but the time out of the
spotlight was a relief, she says.
Detectives who monitored the family's
every move for more than a week saw very little of her.
"She did not seem to have much
life," a police officer on the case said. "She stayed
indoors, we did not see her so much. Maybe once outside."
On
June 12, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Mokbel had likened himself to confessed
al-Qaida terror supporter David
Hicks.
In an interview from his Athens jail
cell, Mokbel discussed aspects of his life on the run, his new baby
daughter and life inside prison.
Australia's one-time most wanted
man says he wants the $1 million reward offered by police for his
capture to be donated to the Royal Children's Hospital.
In the interview, Mokbel also:
COMPARED himself to terror detainee
David Hicks, and likened a stint in solitary confinement in
Melbourne to serving time in Guantanamo Bay.
REVEALED his new baby, Renate, was
unplanned, and that he didn't find out about the pregnancy until
late-term.
VOWED to marry girlfriend Danielle
McGuire -- if she'd wait for him to get out of jail.
CLAIMED he'd planned to open a
restaurant in Greece and work an honest life in the kitchen.
SAID he would take a DNA test if
necessary to prove he is Renate's real dad because his name is not
on her birth certificate.
APOLOGISED profusely to the judge who
let him out on bail before he fled.
In the long chat from the Security
Police headquarters in Athens, Mokbel said if anyone collected the
$1 million Victoria Police reward on his head, the money should go
to children.
Mokbel said he could see similarities
between his case and that of Hicks.
"Eventually, his offences were
found not to have been as severe as claimed," Mokbel said.
"I hope the end result is
similar for me."
The drug boss regretted he'd not yet
wed Danielle.
"We haven't been married. I hope
one day we will," he said.
"I believe every woman in the
world deserves a beautiful wedding. If I ever get that chance, I
will make it up to her.
"It will be a pleasure to marry
her, if she waits that long."
He said he and Ms McGuire hadn't
planned the birth of Renate, five months.
"We didn't plan it, it
happened," he said.
"I wasn't aware of it until some
months down the track. Danielle wanted to keep her. I'm glad, she's
a beautiful baby."
Mokbel said he would take DNA tests
if necessary to prove they were the parents and allow them to retain
custody.
"We couldn't use our real names
(on the certificate). When you are on the run you can never use your
real names," he said.
He was confident Renate would be
allowed to return to Australia when -- or if -- he is extradited
from Greece.
Mokbel extended apologies to
Victorian Supreme Court judge Justice Bill Gillard for skipping
bail, saying he didn't want to let him down.
Commenting on reports Greek tax
inspectors have joined the queue preparing to throw the book at him,
Mokbel said he didn't mind.
"I'm glad to stay longer (in
jail) in Greece. I am not going to get a fair go in Australia."
He predicted it might be five years
before Australian authorities won their battle to get him back on
home soil.
"I want to go back, but the case
is too prejudiced," he said.
Mokbel insisted he had planned to get
a job in a restaurant kitchen until he bought his own, where he
could work until retirement.
The Herald Sun also reported that Mokbel faces a $4 million tax bill when he returns from Greece
to Australia.
Mokbel's relatives and associates in
the alleged organisation known as The Company could also face large
tax bills under a federal strategy to use tax laws to combat
organised crime.
The $4 million bill for Mokbel has
been calculated by the Australian Taxation Office based on his
estimated past income from manufacturing and trafficking illegal
drugs.
Added to Mokbel's woes, Greece's
finance ministry has reportedly begun an inquiry into his business
affairs to establish whether he evaded tax or broke any laws
relating to the non-disclosure of financial transactions.
The assessment was based on details
of Mokbel's assets uncovered by federal and Victorian police during
investigations into his activities.
Mokbel was presented with the bill in
2005 but in March 2006, while his
lawyers argued with the ATO over the assessment, he jumped bail and fled overseas.
Police say Mokbel's organisation
turned over up to $50 million from drug manufacturing and
trafficking since August 2006.
On
June 13, 2007, Chief Commissioner Christine
Nixon said that Mokbel will face a second
murder charge and other offences when he is returned home from
Greece.
Ms Nixon said the proposal to lay additional charges against Mokbel
were part of preparations by Purana Taskforce detectives and the
Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) for his extradition from Greece.
"We've indicated so far drug
trafficking offences, also perhaps two murder offences," she told reporters.
Pressed on whether the second murder
charge was definite, Ms Nixon said "yes", but declined to
name the alleged victim, saying: "Not at this stage."
Purana gangland detectives have been investigating whether Mokbel
was involved in the 2003 underworld hits on drug dealers Michael
Marshall and Nik Radev.
Herald Sun Online understands police want to charge him
with at least one of those murders.
Ms Nixon said the government's efforts to extradite Mokbel
required them to list all charges he will face on his potential
return to Australia.
Police have 40 days left to organise
material that will be put before Greek authorities for Mokbel's
extradition to Australia, Ms Nixon said.
"The legislation and the treaty
requires us to inform the Greek authorities of what offences we
intend to lay and we have to have all that material, so Purana is
working with the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) to do that
now," she said.
On
June 13, 2007, the Age reported that
Mokbel's prospective mother-in-law lauds him as a charming, loyal and respectful member
of her extended family.
"My opinion of Tony as a man
will never change, for the way he treated my granddaughter and me
with respect," she told The Age in an
interview on a chilly Moonee Ponds street — which she suspected
was watched by undercover police.
"My opinion will never
change," she said. "Never. No matter what. He is part of
Danielle's life, so therefore he's part of my life. And I'll never
turn my back on him."
Identifying herself only as Joan, and
declining to offer a surname, Ms McGuire's mother is much harder on
herself than anyone else for her failings as a parent, and she
demands that no one judge her daughter.
Shaking not from the cold but with
emotion, she says in a clenched drawl: "Danielle's not looking
for sympathy. She's the strongest woman I've known.
"But if you are going to judge
my daughter on anything, then judge her for being in love with Tony.
She's in love with the man and he's in love with her."
Joan said it broke her heart when Ms
McGuire left Australia with daughter Brittany in 2006,
ostensibly for a holiday but also because she feared for her life
and to resume life with Mokbel.
"There was nothing much I could
do about it," she said.
"She wasn't the little girl I
could order to her room. She had her own life and would do anything
to keep Brittany safe."
Joan said she next heard about them
when police raided her flat a week ago to advise that Mokbel had
been nabbed in Greece.
She says no one, least of all any mother,
should criticise her for her fierce loyalty to her daughter after
having failed her "when I had too much rubbish going on in my
head … I would protect any of my children with my life."
After a relationship with underworld
figure Mark Moran, whose murder preceded that of his brother
Jason's
during Melbourne's gangland war, Danielle McGuire served 18 months'
jail for trafficking ecstasy.
Then came life with Mokbel as he
fought Victorian and Commonwealth drug charges and became a
notorious household name around Australia.
Conceding that Ms McGuire's
life in Greece wasn't what she had hoped for her, Joan is
fatalistic.
She lingered briefly on an "every mother's
dream" marital image, but snapped out of it.
"If Danielle
loves Tony, that's good enough for me," said Joan.
She derides media reports of her
daughter as a "gangster's moll", which she says unfairly
portray her as "some kind of slut".
She also rejected suggestions that Ms
McGuire was some jewel-drenched "bludger", and plead for
her grandchildren to be spared media attention.
She said Ms McGuire's love for
Mokbel's sister-in-law Renate, jailed over a $1 million surety
she lodged for him, was undiminished.
"They named their new
daughter after Renate because she was the sister my daughter never
had," Joan said.
The Age also reported that in 1974, a law that prevented
extradition of the parent of a Brazilian child was a key factor
behind British great train robber Ronnie Biggs avoiding deportation
and trial in the UK.
Now, an international law expert says Tony
Mokbel's lawyers could cite his Greek-born baby as a reason why
he should not be forced home from Athens.
Professor Don Rothwell, from the
Australian National University, said "humanitarian
considerations" was one of the "exceptions to
extradition" clauses in the 1991 extradition treaty between
Greece and Australia.
"The most obvious (legal) angle
that Mokbel could seek to pursue at the moment relates to any
possible consequences of extradition for his family in Greece,"
Professor Rothwell said.
"The term 'humanitarian
considerations' would certainly be broad enough to encompass the
status of his six-month-old daughter.
"Mokbel's lawyers could argue
that his extradition to Australia, the break-up of the family, the
fact that family could be left destitute by the removal of the
father, could place significant hardship on the family and therefore
impact upon the family circumstances of such a young child."
He said Mokbel and his lawyers had
indicated they might exploit another clause of the extradition
treaty which forbade a government extraditing someone for political
purposes.
Professor Rothwell said the the
inclusion of the murder charge could also lengthen the case by
years. "It's clear that Mokbel has some considerable assets at
his disposal in Greece. Unless for some reason those assets have
been frozen by the Greek authorities, he can use his legal resources
to fight this matter in ways that might not otherwise be the case."
On June 14, 2007, David Tricarico, one of the men arrested in
raids throughout Melbourne on the night of Mokbel's arrest, appeared
in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.
The court heard that Mokbel controlled a $4.2 million drug empire
by mobile phone while on the run to help finance his fugitive
lifestyle.
The drug lord used two phones held by trusted associates to
direct the manufacture of 42kg of amphetamines, with at least
$400,000 9f the sale proceeds electronically wired to the runaway.
The court heard "The Company" also provided for
Mokbel's family and associates in Australia and amassed funds to pay
defence lawyers in the event anyone was arrested.
Tricarico, the syndicate's alleged cook, was one of only four
people trusted to have contact with Mokbel, the court heard.
Det Sgt Martin Robinson said Mokbel saw Tricarico as a confidant
and counselled him on improving the quality of the drugs and acted
as a trouble shooter when there were production problems.
"Not everyone in the organisation got to speak to Tony
Mokbel.....he was careful and so were other members of th group to
keep Tony's involvement in this enterprise secret," he said.
"The fact that this individual spoke to Tony Mokbel is in
itself, significant. This is not just a person low down on the tree
doing a job."
The court heard Tricarico spoke to Mokbel on May 19, 22 and 29
after failures in the process of converting a chemical to the drug
precursor P2P.
Det-Sgt Robertson told the court there was a
problem with the drug making chemicals foaming up.
The court heard Mokbel worked to resolve the problem and counselled
Mr Tricarico on how to improve the drug product.
Det Sgt Robinson said Mr Tricarico's father, the late
Joe Ferola,
had been the best converter
of Phenylacetic acid to P2P in the state.
The court heard an informer contacted police in April with
details about the syndicate's operation and helped tape
conversations and introduce a covert police operative.
Det Sgt Robinson and two lots of glassware were supplied to the
group for $7,300 and just over 1kg of amphetamines were bought for
$114,000.
The informer's information led to surveillance which allegedly
uncovered Tricarico delivering five litres of the precursor chemical
to a syndicate boss on May 23.
Det Sgt Robinson said Tricarico was paid $40,000 for each
delivery and a finance spreadsheet for the group showed he had been
paid up to $790,000.
The court heard there was evidence the informer's passport was
used to create the fake found in Mokbel's possession when he was
arrested.
Tricarico is charged with two counts of trafficking a drug of
dependence in a large commercial quantity and one of possessing
$40,000 said to be the proceeds of crime.
Det Sgt Robinson said police feared Tricarico would
"complete what he set out to do" if given bail or may
flee.
He said there was also concerns for the safety of members of the
public after the informer's family were approached.
The court heard Tricarico also may have access to firearms after
he offered to provide a pistol to another group member so he could
"have a shoot-out" with police if they came to arrest him.
Defence lawyer Con Heliotis, QC, said his client was a young man
with no prior convictions who faced a significant delay before
trial.
On
June 18, 2007, David Tricarico was denied bail.
Defence lawyer Con Heliotis, QC, said his client was a young man
with no prior convictions who lived with his grandparents.
He also argued there would be an inordinate delay before Mr
Tricarico faced trial.
But Magistrate Paul Smith said he hoped the case would be
fast-tracked and Mr Tricarico would not face anything more than the
normal delay.
He said Mr Tricarico had failed to prove the exceptional
circumstances required for bail.
Mr Smith remanded Mr Tricarico in custody to appear in court again
in January.
On
June 20, 2007, Tony
Mokbel told the media he will seek asylum in Greece as he goes ahead with
plans to marry his girlfriend in prison there.
"We're going to ask for
asylum," Mokbel, 41, told the Nine Network, as he
pushed plans to avoid his extradition back to Australia to face a
murder charge.
He says he wants to seek
asylum in Greece because of the reaction to his arrest.
"You know, they're going over the top. (Victoria Police Chief
Commissioner Christine) Nixon's holding photos and saying they've
got him. This is madness. Who have they got? You know what they've
got? They've got nobody. That's the truth. They've got nobody,"
he said.
"I never killed anyone. I've never been involved in killing
anyone. If I was going to kill someone I'd do it myself. I've always
been a man like that.
"I wouldn't get people to kill for me. This is
embarrassing."
In a telephone interview with the Nine Network from his jail cell,
Mokbel professed his love for girlfriend Danielle McGuire, with whom
he had a baby girl, Renee, six months ago.
"I love her . . . I want to marry her and hopefully it will
last until the day I die," Mokbel told the Nine Network.
Mokbel had not seen Ms McGuire, Renee or his step-daughter Brittany
since he was transferred from a police cell to the prison 10 days
before.
Ms McGuire has arranged a priest and all the necessary paperwork for
the nuptials.
The move could allow Mokbel to see his family inside the jail up to
four times a week.
"That's probably the biggest killer at the moment, not being
able to see Danielle and our beautiful daughter and my beautiful
Brittany. It's heartbreaking," he said.
Mokbel denied involvement in any killings.
Mokbel said he in fact tried to broker a truce with the rival clans
of Lewis Moran and Carl Williams as Melbourne's underworld war
escalated.
"My heart goes out to the kids of the Morans and their wives.
It's just a stupid thing that went wrong, completely wrong," he
said.
Mokbel had earlier said he had been dragged into a spat between Carl Williams
and Jason Moran and had tried not to
take sides.
The Herald Sun reported that Mokbel's
plans to seek asylum would certainly fail according to international
legal experts.
Australian National University
international law professor Don Rothwell predicted Mokbel's only
move would be coming home.
"Nil to virtually nothing"
was how he described Mokbel's chances of avoiding extradition.
Prof Rothwell said that the impending marriage of Mokbel and
Danielle McGuire might help his chances in some small way.
But he said it was more likely Mokbel
would be able to stall leaving Greece rather than be granted asylum.
Prof Rothwell said Mokbel would be
hard-pressed to argue that he was being politically persecuted.
On
June 22, 2007, Mokbel was charged with a second
murder.
Detectives from Melbourne's gang crime taskforce Purana said Mokbel had been charged with the murder of
Michael Marshall,
who was shot dead in his driveway in South Yarra on October 25,
2003.
The charge would form part of the police application to extradite
Mokbel back to Australia, police said.
Marshall was gunned down outside his home as his five-year-old
son waited in his father's car.
On
June 22, 2007, Mokbel failed to turn up to an Athens court, claiming the
weather was too hot.
A Greek magistrate blasted Mokbel's
lawyer for the captured fugitive's absence.
Lawyer Jannis Vlachos said his client
did not come to court to face charges because he also believed a
forensic examination of allegedly false papers was not complete.
Mokbel is being detained in a maximum
security prison about 40 minutes' drive from the court.
The temperature in Athens was
expected to reach 40C.
The judge ordered Mokbel's lawyer to
come back with his defence.
The forensic examination of the
papers revealed the passport was forged.
Examiners did not have enough
supporting material to say whether the driver's licence was real or
not.
The lawyer admitted Mokbel's planned
jail-house wedding to girlfriend Danielle McGuire in Athens was a
marriage of convenience.
Mokbel wants to get hitched so his
baby daughter Renate, partner Ms McGuire and her daughter Brittany
can visit three times a week instead of the three times a month
allowed if the pair remain unmarried.
Mr Vlachos said the murder suspect
had always believed marrying Ms McGuire was the right thing to do --
but his "latest adventures" meant the sooner, the better.
Mokbel is locked in the high-security
Korydallos on the outskirts of Athens, as he battles the attempts by
Australian authorities to extradite him.
Weddings behind bars are not uncommon
in Greece.
Mr Vlachos could not say how far
wedding plans had progressed.
Mr Vlachos had earlier advised his
client not to appear in court and said he wanted the case postponed.
A police expert due to rule on
whether the documents were forged was believed not to have completed
his examination and Mr Vlachos said it would be impossible to
proceed under such circumstances.
Mr Vlachos said there was a
possibility Mokbel would be sentenced in absentia last night, and
either fined or jailed for up to 12 months.
This is minor compared with the
battle against the extradition, he said.
While he awaits the outcome of
extradition proceedings -- which increasingly look as if they will
drag on for months or years -- Mokbel is sharing a cell with one
other Greek inmate.
Jail bosses said the Australian
prisoner had not complained about conditions, and had behaved well.
Mr Vlachos said the director of the
prison had commented on Mokbel's unusual sense of humour.
The smooth-talking Mokbel has become
known for the jokes he shares with prisoners and staff.
But jail authorities remain on guard
against a possible escape attempt amid fears he is trying to lull
them into a false sense of security.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel was not
depressed by his situation, but was missing his children, especially
baby Renate who was born in Greece during his time on the run.
Mr Vlachos said a key defence to
fight the extradition bid by Australian authorities would be to ask
Greek authorities to grant Mokbel political asylum.
Lawyer and client had several other
cards up their sleeves, he said.
Mokbel strenuously denies all links
to the two murders he faces trial over if he returns to Melbourne.
On June 26, 2007, the Age reported
that Theodoros Angelakis had vehemently denied any
knowledge of Mokbel's criminal past, but had not revealed to police who
introduced them.
Mokbel is believed to have already been in
Greece for a couple of months when the pair met.
Mr Angelakis first told police he had only met
Mokbel recently at a cafe in Glyfada after hearing his Australian accent and
they got talking because Mr Angelakis had also lived in Australia.
Mr Angelakis later admitted they were introduced through a
mutual acquaintance from Australia shortly after Mokbel arrived in
Greece in 2006.
Mr Angelakis told police Mokbel presented himself as
Greek-Australian businessman Stephen Pappas who had come to live
in Glyfada with his pregnant wife and was keen to invest money in
Greece.
Shortly afterwards, it appears Mr Angelakis set up a shipping
company, TGA Maritime, in which Mokbel would invest as a silent
shareholder.
However there are also conflicting reports as to whether the
Greek Australian connection was with Mokbel when he met Mr
Angelakis, or they were brought together over the phone from
Australia.
"The reality is that he was introduced through another
Greek Australian," a senior Greek police source confirmed.
"We don't know who he is. He says he can't name him but it
was someone known to him."
Apart from the fake passport and NSW driver's licence he was
carrying when he was arrested, Mokbel also had in his possession
bank account details for a Eurobank account, including handwritten
international transfer codes.
The account, opened in a branch in Drapetsona, near Piraeus,
belonged to TGA Maritime.
TGA Maritime formally began operating on March 7 as a
sole-director company owned by Mr Angelakis with an on-paper
capital value of 400,000 euros. Its company address was listed as
Angelakis' home address in Glyfada. Its official business was
shipping-related operations.
Greek police sources have confirmed money from Australia had
been transferred to the company, which had bought the expensive
four-wheel-drive Mokbel was driving in Athens.
Mr Angelakis owns two other shipping companies.
Mr Angelakis, who is not an Australian national, is understood
to be in shock at the revelations about Mokbel. He could not be
contacted for comment by The Age.
Greek police do not believe that Mokbel or Mr Angelakis were
involved in any drug activity in Greece, however the money trail
is being investigated by a special independent national authority
that investigates matters relating to money laundering and income
derived from criminal activity.
The authority, headed by former senior court official Yiorgos
Zorbas, was established in 2005 to combat Greece's black money
market and has wide-ranging powers and resources.
Mokbel, who is remanded in Greece's maximum-security Korydallos
prison, will face court in Athens on a false passport charge on
July 13.
On June 29, 2007, the Herald Sun
reported that Mokbel was preparing a major two-pronged legal
campaign in Australia and Greece to beat extradition.
He has been advised that unless he
can have his last drug conviction and sentence overturned, he has
little chance of remaining in Greece.
If Mokbel fails to have the
conviction quashed, he will mount an audacious attempt to use
obscure sections of international law to be allowed to serve the
12-year jail term in a Greek jail.
This would allow him to avoid
facing the two underworld murder charges in Melbourne.
Mokbel believes that if the drug
conviction sticks, he must attempt to discredit the Victoria
Police Purana taskforce over the bringing of the charges against
him.
Sources told the Herald Sun that
Mokbel would also use every means to delay proceedings in the
Greek courts.
It is a tactic he used successfully
in his last two drug trials, which took four and five years
respectively to reach court.
The first part of his extradition
campaign has been to put together a heavy-hitting team of some of
Australia's best criminal lawyers.
Alastair Grigor, of Grigor Lawyers,
confirmed he had been retained by Mokbel to run his legal fight
here. Mr Grigor has appeared in underworld murder cases and at the
Australian Wheat Board inquiry.
Barrister Nicola Gobbo, who
appeared for Mokbel at his drug trial, has also been approached.
"It's fair to say it is the
subject of current discussions," Ms Gobbo said.
It is believed Mokbel may also try
to retain barrister Con Heliotis, QC, but he is in the United
States at a conference.
Another top silk, Stephen Shirrefs,
SC, confirmed he had been hired to run the drug appeal.
He also represents Horty Mokbel.
Mr Shirrefs recently appeared for
former high-flying Sydney property developer Steven
Wayne Spaliviero, who is accused of running Australia's
largest clandestine drug laboratory.
He has also appeared for Mr
Spaliviero's fiancee, society belle Charlotte Lindstrom, who is
facing criminal charges over police allegations that she was
involved in a conspiracy to murder two prosecution witnesses in a
criminal trial.
Mokbel was found guilty of
smuggling almost 3kg of cocaine into Australia.
Normally, an appeal against that
conviction and the sentence of 12 years' jail with a nine-year
minimum would have to have been lodged within 14 days of the
sentencing.
Mokbel's lawyers will argue that he
should be allowed to lodge an appeal 14 months late on the grounds
that he was denied the chance to challenge the verdict and
sentence.
It is believed there is no similar
case of a criminal on the run claiming that he should be allowed
to lodge an appeal out of time.
Mokbel also plans to use the drugs
appeal in his extradition proceedings, claiming that the
conviction is not relevant because it is under review.
On
July 13, 2007, police confirmed
that Mokbel will face 20 charges, including two of
murder, when he is returned to Australia.
Upon his arrival in
Melbourne, detectives will formally charge Mokbel with
the murders of Lewis
Moran and Michael
Marshall.
He also faces several
charges of perverting the course of justice whilst on
the run in Greece and drug dealing via his Australian
contacts during the same period.
On
July 14, 2007, a top criminal lawyer acting for Tony
Mokbel was thrown out of a
maximum-security jail.
Alastair Grigor had
been at Barwon Prison to talk to at least three
underworld identities, among them Carl
Williams, when he was ejected.
All are believed to be
known to Mokbel and have been accused over the
shooting execution of Lewis
Moran.
Mr Grigor is believed
to have spoken to Williams, who was convicted
of organising Moran's killing.
It is believed he also
wanted to speak to two other men, one convicted over,
and another awaiting trial for, the Brunswick Club
killing.
It is unclear why Mr
Grigor wanted to speak to the men during the visit.
Mr Grigor, who operates
Grigor Lawyers, was allowed into the prison after
showing his credentials but suspicious corrections
staff moved in and started asking questions soon after
he spoke to Williams.
It then became clear
none of the men he wanted time with was a client and
he was told to leave immediately.
Mr Grigor is a
well-known member of Melbourne's legal community,
having appeared in underworld murder cases and at the
Australian Wheat Board inquiry.
He also worked for
Zdravko Micevic, the bouncer acquitted of the
manslaughter of cricket figure David Hookes outside a
Port Melbourne hotel.
A Corrections Victoria
spokeswoman said she could not comment on prisoner
visits or security issues.
Mr Grigor did not
return calls from the Herald Sun.
The Herald Sun reported
that on July 17, 2007, the panel of Greek judges who were to
decide Tony
Mokbel's fate wanted a speedy end to the case and
wouldn't tolerate delay tactics.
An extradition hearing was scheduled to start at 7pm.
Mokbel's lawyers burnt
the midnight oil the previous weekend preparing for the
case having been formally
notified of the hearing late in the week.
Jannis Vlachos
said the captured fugitive's team needed weeks to wade
through the "massive" brief sent to Greece
by Australian authorities.
He was believed to have
requested two vital documents from lawyers in
Australia, and would argue the case should be put off
at least until they arrive.
But a legal source told
the Herald Sun the judges had indicated they
would not look kindly on any efforts by Mokbel's legal
team to slow down proceedings.
"The court can
insist the case goes ahead on Tuesday. They don't have
to give Mokbel's lawyers any extra time to get
ready," the source said.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel
and Danielle McGuire had halted all marriage plans
ahead of an impending extradition fight.
"We're
concentrating everything on the defence," he
said.
"There's no time
now to make marriage plans. That has to be postponed
for a while.
"Right now we have
to put all our efforts first into gaining more time to
study the Australian extradition claim, then to
contest it."
A more minor case
involving allegedly fake documents found on Mokbel
when he was arrested had been dragging on before a
Greek magistrate for weeks.
A snap strike by court
staff was the latest hindrance to the case.
Mokbel said he wanted to study the extradition brief against him
in his high-security cell over the weekend.
He branded the extra
charges "a joke" and said the murder and
drug charges against him had no foundation.
Later on
July 17, 2007, Mokbel's legal team said a last-gasp deal
with prosecutors to drop some charges against him if he didn't fight his extradition from Greece
was unlikely to go ahead.
Jannis Vlachos
said there had been some talk of a possible deal with
Australian authorities to reduce charges against
Mokbel but nothing had come of it.
Mr Vlachos vowed to delay his client's extradition from Greece as
long as possible.
Mokbel had instructed
him to fight extradition using every available option,
he said.
Speaking before the
first scheduled extradition hearing in Greece, Mr Vlachos said he planned to ask for an
immediate adjournment to prepare a proper defence.
Sources said the
Council of Appeal Court judges wanted the extradition
matter wrapped up as quickly as possible and would not
tolerate unnecessary delays.
Mokbel hoped to use obscure
sections of international law to serve his term in
Greece.
A separate case, over
false document charges laid by Greek police, is
scheduled to continue on July 24.
The extradition case was delayed after a judge
requested additional documents.
On July 24, 2007, the
Herald Sun reported that Mokbel would exhaust all available
appeals in his legal battle against extradition to Melbourne.
Mokbel was due to appear in a court in Athens later that
day, as an appeals court judge reviewed the extradition
request.
"If the decision is negative we will take our case to
(Greece's) Supreme Court,'' Yiannis Vlachos said.
His legal team had reportedly organised for a human rights
expert, Mirko Bagaric, to be flown from Melbourne to give
evidence before the court when the case resumed.
Mokbel was also expected to appear before another Athens
court to be tried on charges including forgery and possession
of a false passport and driver's licence.
If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of 12 months
on the false passport charge.
Mokbel appeared before
a panel of three judges and two other court officials
in Athens where his legal team mounted an
impassioned plea against his extradition.
Mokbel said being sent back to Australia
would be like
facing trial in Nazi Germany.
"It would be
impossible for me to get a fair trial," Mokbel
told a Greek court. "It's like you sending me to
Hitler."
"They want an easy decision to make because they
are not interested in my life."
Watched by Danielle McGuire, Mokbel
protested that the judges appeared not to have
considered whether there was any evidence against him
regarding the murder and drugs charges he faces.
Tensions ran high during the hearing in the
small Athens courtroom, which experienced a breakdown
in its air conditioning system while temperatures
soared to 43 degrees outside.
Meanwhile, the federal government has defended its
handling of the Mokbel case amid claims by his lawyers
the wrong minister signed the request for his
extradition.
A Melbourne-based human
rights lawyer, Mirko Bagaric, hired by Mokbel, told
the court the extradition request might have been
incorrectly signed in Australia, which would make it
legally invalid.
Mr Bagaric said the
extradition request had been signed by federal Justice
Minister David Johnston, instead of Attorney-General
Philip Ruddock.
"If that is right, the request that you have
looked at is legally invalid," he said.
But Senator Johnston said the government followed
correct legal procedure.
"Both the attorney-general and the minister for
justice and customs have been appointed to administer
the Attorney-General's Department," he said
through a spokeswoman.
"As such, the minister for justice and customs
may exercise the power given to the attorney-general
in section 40 of the Extradition Act, because of the
operation of other sections of the Interpretation
Act."
Mr Bagaric also argued
comments made about Mokbel's arrest in Greece by
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon and
Premier Steve Bracks could prejudice the case.
He said Mokbel's life
could be in danger if he returned to Australia.
"In Victoria, Tony
can't be tried by people who can consider his case
impartially, because in the minds of Victorians, he is
already guilty," Mr Bagaric said.
"Jurors will be
told to try the case but it's impossible to erase
those memories."
Mokbel's lawyers protested repeatedly about the
quality of translation of evidence, while the fugitive
himself lashed out at the judges after one tried to
hurry things along because of the heat.
The Athens Appeals
Court panel adjourned after the two-hour hearing.
The panel members said
they needed more time to read Australia's extradition
treaty with Greece before making their decision.
On July 25, 2007, Mokbel
was reassured he would receive a fair trial
in Victoria if Greece clears the way for his
extradition to Australia.
Three Greek judges were
expected to hand down their decision late the
following day on
whether he should be
sent back to face 20 fresh charges, including two of
murder.
His lawyers told the court comments made about
Mokbel's capture in Greece the previous month by Victorian
Premier Steve Bracks and police commissioner Christine
Nixon would have "poisoned" the minds of any
jurors selected to try their client in the future.
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks
told AAP he insisted the
fugitive had nothing to fear from facing trial on home
soil.
"Mr Mokbel will get a fair trial on his return to
Victoria," he told reporters.
"We have a fair judicial system, there's nothing
to be feared by a fair judicial system and I'm hoping
and expecting that those matters will be resolved in
the courts."
On
July 26, 2007, a panel of three Greek judges ruled that there was no impediment to
Mokbel's return to Australia and granted the application for his extradition.
Mokbel's legal team had
24 hours to challenge the ruling and his lawyers indicated they
would make an appeal to the Supreme
Court.
Tony Mokbel, who had
been experiencing kidney problems, did not appear in
court due to his illness.
Mokbel's lawyers lodged an appeal that night with the Greek Supreme Court against his
extradition, and indicated that, if that fails,
they will go even higher to the European court in
Strasbourg.
On
July 27, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Tony Mokbel's application to the European Court of Human Rights to
overturn his extradition appeared doomed
before it was even lodged.
A court registry
official told the newspaper that Mokbel
would have to prove he would be tortured or killed if
he returned to Australia before the international
court would intervene.
The court would perhaps
consider overturning a Greek Appeal Court's decision
to extradite Mokbel if a flagrant denial of justice
was shown, she said, but this was rare.
The European Court
official, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, said
there were no precedents to indicate Mokbel's case had
a hope of getting off the ground.
She said there was a
slim chance, if the judge believed Mokbel's claims,
the court could order Australia to guarantee a fair
trial before ticking off on the extradition.
The court polices
violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.
One of the key planks it protects is the right to a
fair hearing in civil and criminal matters.
Complainants must have
exhausted all legal options before they can apply to
the European Court.
But the Supreme Court appeal will not
be heard until September at the earliest.
Athens basically closes
down for summer holidays in August meaning that the
extradition appeal and local charges relating to
Mokbel's alleged use of a fake passport will not
be heard for several weeks.
The European Court's
website notes that the "great majority of
applications are . . . declared inadmissible".
"In view of the
backlog of cases, you may have to wait a year before
the court can proceed with its initial examination of
your application."
An application to it
will, however, buy Mokbel some time before he returns
to Australia.
Mirko Bagaric -- the witness paid by Mokbel to
give evidence at his extradition hearing in Athens --
said there were several cases that would add weight to
Mokbel's eventual claim to the European Court.
He declined to give
details of the cases.
In an SMS to the Herald
Sun Prof Bagaric wrote: "we still nailing down
this angle and don't want (to) flag all punches thus
story but cant help".
On August 6, 2007, the Age
reported that the threat of being killed
had ensured a former close associate of Tony Mokbel would not have
to give evidence in court for police.
The associate-turned-traitor is said to have
implicated a "who's who" of accused people,
some allegedly linked to Mokbel's Melbourne drug
syndicate, of which the man was a major member until
he turned supergrass.
The Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)
and the police Purana gangland taskforce held grave
fears for the man's safety if he had been forced to
attend court.
Andrew Tinney, a prosecutor for the DPP, said it
was hard to imagine a person in more danger than the
man, who cannot be named.
Mr Tinney told Melbourne Magistrates Court the
previous week not only was he in danger but also those
who would have to transfer him from his secure
location to court.
"Everyone involved in moving the witness is at
risk," he said.
The DPP applied on Friday August 3, with affidavits
from Purana and Corrections Victoria, to magistrate
Donna Bakos to have the witness give evidence against
three men in November from a remote witness facility
via video link.
Brothers John Kelegouris, 45,
and Polydoros Kelegouris, 47, of Greensborough,
and Daniel Bitaxis, 32, of Coburg, are charged with
trafficking a large commercial quantity of
methylamphetamine between 2005 and 2006.
Lawyers for the men, who were on bail, opposed the
application, arguing their clients had the right to
question the witness in person.
Timothy Gattuso, for Bitaxis, said there were
safety procedures in place, despite the expense and
inconvenience cited by authorities, that would allow
the man to be cross-examined while present in court.
Mr Gattuso said it was "unlikely" he
would come to harm in the courtroom as there were
security checks entering the court complex, searches
outside the hearing room, an armed escort for the
witness to and from the building and the chance of
giving evidence in camera.
He said the man had implicated an array of people
he described as "almost a who's who" and
would have faced multiple life sentences if he had not turned
prosecution witness.
Because of that he had
a very strong motive to give false evidence and
falsely implicate as many people as he can, he said.
Mr Gattuso submitted
that witnesses responded differently when giving
evidence in court as compared to sitting in a room
from a distance looking at a camera.
"It's easier to
maintain that lie if sitting in a room," he said.
He argued that the
concern of the witness, the DPP and police was not
with the three defendants, but other people in jail
who had been implicated and who would cause grave
concern to the man.
In granting the
application, Ms Bakos said if the defendants were not
a risk to the man, then it was simply great enough in
the movement to and appearance of him court.
On
August 7, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Tony Mokbel
wanted taxpayers to fund his fight against
extradition, as police alleged he lingered in Victoria
for eight months after skipping bail.
Mokbel's audacious bid
for Victoria's help comes as court documents detail
how the convicted drug trafficker dodged police in 15
months on the run.
An Australian
Government submission to a Greek court alleges Mokbel
stayed in Australia after absconding during his
cocaine importation trial last March.
In the document, seen
by the Herald Sun, Purana Taskforce boss Insp
Jim O'Brien alleges Mokbel was living in Victoria
until the end of October.
Insp O'Brien alleges he
left the country by boat or "shipping
vessel" soon after that.
Mokbel's lawyers have
applied for legal aid funding for a complex,
two-pronged legal attack aimed at keeping him out of
Victoria, where he is facing two murder charges and 18
others linked to Melbourne's underworld
war.
The defence bill is
tipped to soar into the tens of thousands.
Mirko Bagaric will apply
for a constitutional writ banning the Commonwealth
Government from executing a Greek court's order that
Mokbel be extradited.
He will argue that
vital documents, including the submission outlining
Mokbel's alleged movements, were not shown to the
defence before the extradition hearing, in breach of
protocol.
The submission refers
to detailed affidavits from Victorian police and
prosecutors, documents the Mokbel defence team has not
yet seen.
Yiannis Vlahos, has appealed to the European
Court of Human Rights to overturn the extradition
order.
Justice Minister David
Johnston refused to comment on Greek extradition
procedures.
On
August 9, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Collingwood football legend
Mick McGuane had allegedly been caught
on police surveillance visiting men claimed to be
linked to Melbourne's gangland
war.
McGuane had allegedly
been detected associating with an accused drug
manufacturer and another man claimed to be involved in
organised crime.
He has been named in a
brief of evidence that will be made public in a trial
set for February.
At least one of the men
he knows is linked to Tony
Mokbel.
Police claim they saw
McGuane repeatedly entering a house used as an
amphetamine laboratory.
It is believed
anti-gangland Purana detectives have spoken to McGuane
over his alleged relationships with gangland figures.
McGuane would not
comment on whether he had been interviewed by police.
He has not been charged
with any offence.
"Am I involved in
any gangland war? No," he said.
"Do I deal drugs?
No. Do I shoot people? No. Have I been in hiding? No.
Have I done anything wrong? No."
McGuane would not say
if he had ever mixed with organised crime figures. But
he said he would gladly face a court if he had done
anything illegal.
"I'm not saying
nothing. I'd be in jail if I did something wrong. I've
got nothing to say."
Asked if he knew any
criminals, McGuane said: "What's wrong with that?
I've been caught on surveillance, so what? I can't
visit a house?
"It's just like
Alan Didak. Was he supposed to have a crystal ball?
It's the same thing."
McGuane played 152
games for the Magpies, including the 1990 premiership,
and three with Carlton.
He has since coached
country team Gisborne to several premierships and was
an assistant coach at St Kilda.
More on this topic Andrew
Rule: The connections between footballers and the
underworld
On August 18, 2007,
the Age wrote that police believe Tony Mokbel was
hiding around a modest farmhouse in Bonnie Doon, just
150 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, before he fled
Australia in 2006.
The Age can
reveal that police executed search warrants on the
property, perched among rolling green hills 10
kilometres from the Maroondah Highway, when they
arrested one of Mokbel's closest associates, George
Elias, on drug charges two months ago.
Since then, Purana
Taskforce detectives have been interviewing neighbours
about suspicious activity along the quiet gravel road
and a police helicopter scoured the area this week to
piece together Mokbel's movements after he disappeared.
Police believe he may
have been hidden around the property for up to seven
months before being smuggled on to a ship.
Police allege Elias,
39, was working as a drug manufacturer and courier in
Mokbel's drug empire, which he is accused of
controlling until his arrest in Greece.
One neighbour, who did
not want to be named, told The Age
that two Purana detectives recently asked if he had
seen new cars driving along the road last year.
Police also wanted to
know if Elias had been travelling regularly in any
particular direction, as though he was delivering
something, the resident said.
"They seemed to be
suggesting that somebody else was there … This is
old gold mining country. There's plenty of places to
hide someone, there could have been caves or something
like that," he said.
Another resident said
she thought a relative of the Elias family had been
living in a caravan on the property some time last
year, but she never seen him.
She said Elias' arrest,
during a night-time raid after Mokbel was picked up in
June, was big news in town. "It was a bit of a
shock, we didn't know what was going to happen after
that," she said.
Elias is one of eight
alleged members of a group that police claim has
produced 42 kilograms of amphetamines since July 2006,
with a wholesale value of about $4.2 million.
He is charged with
trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs and will
face a committal hearing in January.
His family still live
on the property, which is also home to cattle, a chook
pen, a dog and a couple of horses.
On
September 3, 2007,
Mokbel was jailed for a year by
a Greek court for holding a false
passport and driver's licence.
But
Victoria Police said they will continue to push
for his extradition to Australia to face
murder charges.
A
Victoria Police spokeswoman said the extradition request would
proceed.
Mokbel is
due to return to court in Greece on
October 9 to fight orders that he return
to Australia.
An
extradition expert said Greece had the
right to insist Mokbel do his time
there.
Australian
National University professor of
international law Don Rothwell said the
sentencing could be a complication in
the short term.
But he
said it appeared Mokbel was intending to
drag out the extradition process, which
could take 12 months.
Prof
Rothwell said the sentence could be
waived so an immediate extradition could
proceed.
Mokbel was
not present in court when the sentence
was handed down.
On
September 6, 2007, Tony
Mokbel's lawyers made a request to
stop the Government acting on orders he
be returned to the country.
Mokbel launched action against the Commonwealth
in the Federal Court in a bid to quash
his extradition order.
In the
application, Mokbel's lawyer Mirko
Bagaric claimed the order is unfair
because his lawyers did not have access
to all the documents before the court.
The Federal
Court application was to go to a
directions hearing on September 12.
The Age reported that lawyers for Tony
Mokbel had moved urgently to stop his
extradition to Melbourne on grounds that
include alleged secret diplomatic
communications sent to Greek judges via
the Australian Government.
Yiannis Vlahos claimed an
officer with the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade may have tried to
undermine Mokbel's coming appeal against
his extradition.
Mr Vlahos
says in an affidavit sworn earlier in
the week that he was concerned the DFAT
official was "attempting to
influence" a member of the Greek
Justice Department to put contents of an
email before the Supreme Court, which
will hear Mokbel's extradition appeal.
His
affidavit was lodged at the
Federal Court in Melbourne as part of a
two-pronged application by Mokbel's
legal team to argue Australia's
extradition request is invalid.
The
application to quash Mokbel's
extradition seeks to prohibit Australian
authorities from any further moves to
return him.
Mirko Bagaric filed the
application.
The
respondents are the federal
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and the
Minister for Justice and Customs, David
Johnston.
In the
application it is claimed that because
Mr Johnston, and not Mr Ruddock, signed
the extradition request — when the law
states such a request shall
"only" be made by or with the
Attorney-General's authority — it is
invalid.
Mr Vlahos
said that anyone subject to an
extradition under Greek law has the
right to every document from the
prosecutor.
He claimed
that after reading the Athens Appeal
Court's written reasons for granting the
extradition, he uncovered a document not
seen by Mokbel — but given to the
court's three judges — that contained
allegedly inaccurate, pejorative and
unproven information.
Mr Vlahos said he later found two emails from
Australia, including one from the
Department of Foreign Affairs, that had
been sent to the Athens Appeal Court
from the Greek prosecutor's office.
He says
neither Mokbel nor his lawyers were able
to respond to these documents.
"I
have not previously been associated with
a case where material has been provided
secretly to the judge or judges without
it first having been provided to
me," Mr Vlahos says.
It is
expected that a directions hearing will
be held next week in the Federal Court
in an attempt to decide the issues
before Mokbel's appeal on October 9.
On
September 12, 2007, Mokbel's
lawyers appeared in the Federal Court in
Melbourne and were granted an
urgent hearing date of September 27.
The Australian arm of
Tony
Mokbel's fight
against extradition was fast-tracked
so it didn't interfere with his appeal
in Greece.
Outside
court Mirko Bagaric said he
hoped the matter would be resolved
before the October 9 date of his
client's appeal in Greece.
"It
is our submission that the extradition
request by Australia is invalid on two
central grounds," he said.
"Firstly,
it wasn't signed by the person that has
the authority to do that; and also, that
the process has been tainted as a result
of some communications, which we say
didn't conform with the formalities
required in the extradition
treaty."
 On
September 28, 2007, it was reported
that Lebanese authorities
had lodged a surprise
request to have Mokbel
extradited to Lebanon instead of
Australia.
If the
request is granted it could mean
Mokbel, a Lebanese citizen, never
returns to face justice in Australia.
Australia
has no extradition treaty with
Lebanon, and Lebanon almost never
extradites its citizens.
The
request, lodged with Greek police in
recent days, says Lebanon's government
wants Mokbel to face various criminal
charges there.
Australian
authorities have as yet been unable to
establish what those charges are.
The
Lebanese request could delay, and
possibly stop, attempts by the
Australian Government to ensure Mokbel
is brought back to Victoria to face
two counts of murder and 16 drug
charges.
Though Mokbel was born in Kuwait he
holds Lebanese citizenship because his
parents are Lebanese.
Australian
authorities are hoping an existing
order by a Greek court that Mokbel be
returned to Australia will trump
Lebanon's request.
But
they fear the Lebanese move will at
least delay Mokbel's return to
Victoria, even if it fails to stop it.
A
spokesman for the federal
Attorney-General's Department said he
could not comment on Lebanon's
extradition request, because it was a
matter for the Greek authorities.
Australian
National University extradition expert
Prof Don Rothwell said there was
nothing in international law to
dictate which country's extradition
request would have priority.
He said
Greek authorities would make the
decision, taking into account Greece's
relations with Lebanon and Australia.
He said
the seriousness of the charges Mokbel
faced in Australia, and its earlier
lodging of an extradition request,
were major factors in Australia's
favour.
"Unless
there was something absolutely
extraordinary in play here, then
Australia's extradition request will
not necessarily be derailed,"
Prof Rothwell said.
"But
it could certainly be delayed."
Prof
Rothwell said he didn't expect
Lebanon's extradition request would be
granted over Australia's, but if it
was the ramifications could be
disastrous.
"If
Mokbel is extradited to Lebanon then
Australia's ability to get him back
will be significantly compromised,
given Lebanon's record of not
extraditing its citizens," he
said.
Mokbel
is already delaying his return to
Victoria by appealing against the
Greek court's July 26 decision to
grant Australia's extradition request.
His appeal is due to be heard in
Greece's Supreme Court on October 9.
On October 5, 2007, Lawyers
acting for Mokbel said he
would appeal against a Federal Court
decision validating the Australian
Government's extradition order.
Melbourne
Federal Court judge Michelle Gordon
dismissed an application challenging
the request to surrender Mokbel to
Victoria because it was signed by
Justice Minister David Johnston, not
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.
On October 7, 2007, the
Herald Sun reported that police had uncovered the dumped remains of a
dru kitchen allegedly used by Mokbel to fund his escape from
Australia.
The Herald
Sun also revealed police
believed Mokbel fled Australia via the
southern NSW fishing port of Eden.
Mokbel
is believed to have fled on a boat in
the middle of the night seven months
after failing to appear at court on
drugs charges.
Drug-making
gear and ingredients were found by
police in a remote part of the
Strathbogie Ranges late last month.
Police
believe Mokbel and an associate used
the equipment to make amphetamines
after the accused drug boss skipped
bail last year, sparking an
international manhunt. Police now
believe Mokbel was holed up just two
hours' drive from Melbourne in a
Bonnie Doon farmhouse.
Purana
taskforce detectives uncovered the
drug stash a week before the AFL Grand
Final after investigating an entry in
the diary of a Mokbel associate that
said "went to Hell's Hole
Creek".
The
creek is north of Bonnie Doon, near
the remote goldmining area of
Tallangalook that was known as Hell's
Hole in the 1880s.
The
haul included hydrochloric acid
containers, tubing and clothing.
Police
believe the gear was used to
manufacture drugs in a factory in
nearby Alexandra.
The
gear is believed to have been dumped
in thick bushland after Mokbel was
arrested in Greece four months ago.
The
find came after police arrested a
Mokbel associate on drug charges.
The
Bonnie Doon associate was arrested in
a night-time raid after Mokbel's
arrest.
He is
one of eight men police have accused
of belonging to a drug ring run by
Mokbel.
In
court in July, police alleged money
from the proceeds of drug sales was
used to support Mokbel on the run.
Mokbel
was alleged to have been in regular
contact with some of the men. The
group are accused of manufacturing
42kg of amphetamines with a wholesale
value of $4.2 million, at least
$400,000 of which is said to have been
wired to Mokbel overseas.
The
associate is charged with trafficking
a commercial quantity of drugs and
will face a committal hearing next
year.
On October 8, 2007, Mokbel's
Melbourne-based lawyer Mirko Bagaric
lodged an appeal against the previous
week's Federal Court decision to
validate an Australia government order
to extradite Mokbel from Greece.
The appeal says Judge Gordon erred
in law by deciding that under the
relevant legislation, an extradition
request could be signed by either the
justice minister or attorney-general.
The appeal against the ruling
requesteed that it be heard as a
matter of urgency.
The Federal Court appeal in
Australia could delay Mokbel's appeal
in Greece, which was due to be heard
the next day.
On
October 9, 2007, the Herald Sun
reported that Mokbel claimed corrupt
police or underworld heavies will kill
him if he is returned to Victoria.
A
decision on Mokbel's extradition was
to be made in Greece on that day and he could
have been on his way to Australia within
days.
If the
Greek court ruled in favour of
extraditing Mokbel to Australia then
his only possibility to appeal against
the decision in Greece would be to go
to the European Court of Human Rights.
In the European Court, Mokbel could
try to resist extradition on the basis
he fears for his life if he is
returned to Australia.
His Greek lawyers will claim Mokbel
has had death threats made against him
and his family. Those lawyers could
argue to the European Court that in
light of the alleged threats it would
be a breach of his human rights to
extradite him.
An attempt by Lebanon to extradite
Mokbel, who is a Lebanese citizen, to
Lebanon, could also be used as grounds
to delay Mokbel being returned to
Australia. If Mokbel was extradited to
Lebanon then he may never return to
Australia as Lebanon almost never
extradites its citizens.
Mokbel's legal team in Greece could
use the Federal Court appeal, and
Lebanon's extradition attempt, as
grounds to adjourn the appeal in
Greece until the outcomes in Australia
and Lebanon are known.
Mirko Bagaric said he was trying to
get the Federal Court's appeal court
to hear Mokbel's appeal by Friday.
"It needs to be heard as a
matter of urgency because if Tony
fails in his appeal in Greece there is
a possibility he could be sent back to
Australia in just a week or two,"
he said.
On October 9, 2007, Greece's
top court postponed the hearing
of an Australian request to extradite
its most wanted fugitive until
December 4 in order to wait for a
final Australian court decision on the
extradition.
Lawyers
for Tony
Mokbel had challenged the
extradition request in Australian
courts, arguing it should not have
been signed by the country's justice
minister but by the attorney general.
Greece's
Supreme Court said it would wait for a
final decision from Australia in
November before ruling on the
extradition of the fugitive known as
"Fat Tony", wanted at home
in connection with a murder of a rival
crime boss and for a drugs conviction.
"The
court has accepted our request and we
will wait for the federal (Australian)
court to issue a decision on our
appeal," lawyer Alexandros
Likourezos told reporters.
Mokbel said he was satisfied
with the postponement.
On
October 29, 2007, Age crime writer John
Silvester revealed that the secret
witness who helped trace Tony
Mokbel to his Greek seaside hideaway
was in line for a $1 million reward
once the alleged drug trafficker and
murderer is finally extradited to
Australia.
The Mokbel insider, who has been officially
designated "Registered Informer
3030", was one of the most
trusted subordinates working for the
Mokbel cartel known as "the
Company." He agreed to work for
the police just weeks after they
announced in April a $1 million
reward for Mokbel's capture.
The informer was given the job of
providing Mokbel with a new passport
and fresh mobile phones so the drug
syndicate head could continue to
control his Australian operation
from Athens.
But 3030 passed on a phone that
was bugged by police. Believing the
phone to be clean, Mokbel used it to
give instructions that implicated
him in a pattern of drug production
and distribution.
Although he is being held in a
top-security Athens prison, he has
gained access to another mobile
phone and has contacted Purana to
try to cut a deal where the murder
charges would be dropped. "I'm
a drug dealer, not a killer, "
he told an investigator.
A senior Melbourne police source
said informer 3030 was certain to be
paid a substantial reward. "He
provided the breakthrough and he
deserves to be paid for the risks he
took and the information he
provided."
On
November 7, 2007, a man was charged with drug
trafficking after the anti-gangland taskforce raided several
properties early in the day.
The
Purana Taskforce is investigating
links between a multi-million dollar
drug operation and organised crime
believed to be associated with Tony
Mokbel.
A man, 31, from Huntingdale in
Melbourne's south-east was charged with trafficking amphetamines
and possessing implements for
manufacturing amphetamines, Victoria
Police said in a statement.
A man, 40, also from
Huntingdale, was released from custody
pending further inquiries.
The two arrests were made during dawn
raids when officers from the
task force swooped on eight
properties, including two factories
and six private properties in
Springvale, Huntingdale, Yarraville
and South Melbourne.
Task Force chief Detective Inspector
Gavan Ryan said officers found a
"significant" amount of
cash, a European-registered Mercedes
sedan and documents relating to
fraudulent activity.
They also allegedly uncovered a
disused amphetamine laboratory at a
factory in Westall Road, Springvale,
which had recently ceased operating.
Det Insp Ryan said that based on what
was found in the factory, including
chemicals and precursor chemicals,
officers believed they had uncovered a
multi-million dollar drug operation.
"I don't know when it stopped,
but there's certainly a very pungent
odour there, so you would say that
it's been going up to some months
ago," he said.
"It appears to have been going,
from what our information is, for some
years."
Det Insp Ryan said he was unable to
say at this stage whether the
operation was part of a larger drug
ring, but they were checking all links
to organised crime.
Asked if the operation was linked to
Mokbel - who is in Greece awaiting
extradition on 20 charges, including
two counts of murder - Det Insp Ryan
said: "We are looking at all
possibilities in relation to all
syndicates".
"I'm sure if we end up charging
people it will all come out in
court."
Det Insp Ryan also said the work of
the Purana Task Force, set up to
investigate Melbourne's bloody
gangland war, would continue for
years.
"It's such a relentless pace and
we will keep going at that pace and as
long as information is provided to us,
we will investigate it and we will
follow it through.
"Purana will go for years,
without a doubt.
"We're still looking at old
gangland killings and we'll keep doing
that for a long time, and that is a
focus of one part of Purana.
"The other focus is disrupt
organised crime and if we get
information in relation to any crooks
that are cooking (manufacturing
drugs), et cetera, we'll go after
them."
The 31-year-old man was bailed to
appear at the Melbourne Magistrates'
Court on December 7.
On November 14, 2007, two
brothers were arrested by Purana
detectives following the chemical
laboratory's discovery.
Wayne Finn, 40, and Matthew Finn,
31, were charged by Purana taskforce
detectives for trafficking large
commercial amounts of methamphetamine
and were remanded in custody until
April.
The brothers appeared in Melbourne
Magistrates Court for a filing hearing
where they made no application for
bail.
Wayne Finn faces nine charges,
including trafficking large commercial
amounts of methamphetamine, four
counts of possessing drug-making
chemicals, and one count each of
having an unregistered handgun and
dealing $67,700 in cash believed to be
proceeds from crime.
Matthew Finn faces five charges,
including trafficking a large
commercial amount of methamphetamine
and four counts of possessing
drug-making chemicals.
The charges relate to the period
from January 2005 to this month.
Magistrate Barbara Cotterell
remanded the men to appear at the same
court for a committal mention hearing
on April 24.Police said the November 7
raids on eight properties across
Melbourne also uncovered a
"significant" amount of
cash, a European-registered Mercedes
sedan and documents relating to
fraudulent activity.
Taskforce chief Detective Inspector
Gavan Ryan said at the time that,
based on what police found, they had
uncovered a multi-million dollar drug
operation.
Det Insp Ryan said he believed the
laboratory had been operating for some
years, but stopped production some
months ago.
On
November 22, 2007, the Finn brothers were bailed
at Melbourne Magistrates
Court.
A Purana detective
claimed that the brothers
were "engaged" by
Tony Mokbel in early 2005 to
make methamphetamine.
The court heard that
Wayne Finn attended the
Springvale factory with
Mokbel and others and spent
two days participating in
and getting instructions for
the manufacture of the drug.
Magistrate Felicity
Broughton heard that an
unnamed witness had
implicated the brothers and
that up to $700,000 of
wholesale methamphetamines
could have been produced .
Wayne Finn, 40, faces
nine charges, including
trafficking a large
commercial quantity of
methamphetamines and
possessing precursor
chemicals.
Matthew Finn, 31, is
charged with five offences
that include trafficking a
large commercial quantity of
methamphetamine and
possessing precursor drugs.
Defence barristers
Stephen Shirrefs, QC, and
Len Hartnett said both
clients denied the
allegations.
Police opposed bail for
the brothers on grounds that
they would interfere with
witnesses and obstruct the
course of justice.
In granting bail, Ms
Broughton said she was
satisfied both men did not
pose an unacceptable risk.
The men were released
with a surety of $60,000
each and were ordered to
report to police three times
a week, surrender their
passports and not contact
any witnesses.
Both were ordered to
appear again in April.
On
December 4, 2007, the Herald Sun
reported that Tony Mokbel was trying
to get his Victorian murder and drug
charges heard in Lebanon.
Australian
officials had been lobbying the Greek
and Lebanese governments in a bid to
foil Mokbel's latest legal tactic.
They were
trying to ensure Mokbel was extradited to
Victoria to face his pending charges.
Mokbel was due in the Supreme Court in
Athens to appeal against a Greek
court's July 26 decision to grant
Australia's request to extradite him to
Victoria.
Australian
officials were confident Mokbel will be
extradited to Australia rather than
Lebanon but they would not know for sure
if their intense lobbying had succeeded
until Mokbel was on the plane to
Melbourne.
Mokbel's
lawyers expressed surprise
Australia would try to convince Lebanon
not to extradite him.
"I
would like to know exactly what type of
lobbying the Australians did," said
Mokbel's Melbourne-based lawyer, Mirko
Bagaric.
"The
implication is they are offering Lebanon
some form of inducement and making quite
inappropriate requests of a sovereign
country not to do what it is entitled to
do.
"I
hope that implication is wrong. Justice
would be better served if Mokbel was
tried in Lebanon."
The Herald Sun reported that f
Mokbel's lawyers were able to get his
charges heard in Lebanon he might never
return to Australia.
Lebanon
almost never allows the extradition of
its citizens, and Mokbel is a Lebanese
citizen.
He would
serve any sentence imposed in Lebanon.
Mokbel's
lawyers are believed to have argued to
Lebanese authorities they should try
Mokbel, as he would never get a fair
trial in Australia.
Having
the Victorian murder and drug charges
heard in Lebanon would present a
logistical and security nightmare for
federal and Victorian police, as
witnesses and prosecutors would probably
need to be flown to Lebanon.
Some of
the crucial witnesses against Mokbel are
serving long jail terms in Victoria and
authorities would be loath to allow them
out of the country to testify.
They
would have to rely on being able to
convince Lebanese authorities to allow
the unusual step of letting witnesses
give evidence from Victoria by video
link.
Mr
Bagaric could not confirm if Lebanon had
lodged an extradition request.
But
Lebanon has already informed the
international police agency, Interpol,
it may apply to have Mokbel extradited
to Lebanon.
Greece's
Justice Minister would have the final
say on whether Mokbel goes to Lebanon or
Australia.
Mr
Bagaric said he could not confirm or
deny any of the legal strategies being
used on Mokbel's behalf, as all
litigants were entitled to keep such
information to themselves.
But he
said it would be a fairer and more
desirable outcome if Mokbel's Victorian
murder and drug charges were heard in
Lebanon rather than Australia.
"All
along we have asserted that due to the
enormous prejudice in the community,
fuelled by comments from the Government
which demonised Tony, the prospect of
getting 12 impartial jurors in Victoria
to determine Mokbel's guilt or innocence
is about zero," Mr Bagaric said.
"Everyone
in Victoria believes that Mokbel is
involved in organised crime. It is
fanciful to assert to the contrary.
"If
he returns to Victoria, due to the
over-zealous comments by government
officials he cannot get a fair
trial."
As he
entered the court, Mokbel -
dressed in a suit and red tie and
flanked by five police officers - was
asked if he would be home for Christmas.
"I
hope not," he replied.
Mokbel took
his
case to the highest court in Greece
after three Appeals Court judges ruled
in July that Mokbel should be returned
to Melbourne to face the new charges.
"The
main argument is that it is impossible
for him to have a fair trial in
Australia," Mokbel's lawyer Yiannis
Vlachos said outside the court.
In a four-minute court hearing,
the panel of six judges in the Greek
Supreme Court adjourned proceedings
until March 4.
Mokbel will spend Christmas in a
Hannibal Lector-style cage after again
securing the stay of extradition to
Australia.
They said
they would wait until Mokbel's
Australian appeal against his
extradition was heard in the High Court.
Outside
court, Mokbel revealed he was being held
in a cage akin to the Hollywood
character played by Sir Anthony Hopkins
in the 1991 smash-hit flick The
Silence of the Lambs.
He told
the Herald Sun allegations he
was slimming down so he could escape
were rubbish and he wondered where
people thought he was going to go from
his maximum-security cell.
His
lawyers described him as being held in a
dungeon below the floor of the tough
Korydallos prison in Athens.
His
family said he was in a
solitary-confinement cage and being
denied basic rights.
Mokbel
questioned the rumours about him, which
he claimed were spread by Melbourne
police, such as escape plots and claims
rival drug lords wanted to kill him in
jail.
"What
do you do? It is all rubbish. Of course
it is rubbish," he said, handcuffed
and surrounded by six armed police
officers.
"There's
all sorts of crap that's flowing from
everywhere, but we will see what
happens. The more they give it, the
tougher it gets.
"It's
tough, of course, it's tough all around,
on me and on my family. It's tough, it's
just a nightmare."
Mokbel
said he didn't want much for Christmas
except perhaps a visit from his partner,
Danielle McGuire, and their baby
daughter, both of whom were in court.
An
Australian embassy representative at the
court said Mokbel's human rights were an
issue for his lawyers.
 His
application for leave to appeal to the
High Court was heard on December 14,
2007 and Mokbel lost his last bid
under Australian law to avoid
extradition.
The High
Court refused to grant Mokbel leave to
appeal against an earlier judgment that
his extradition papers were legal.
The
ruling means his final chance to avoid
being returned to Australia is in the
hands of Greece's Supreme Court.
Outside
court Mirko Bagaric
acknowledged his client was running out
of options.
Mr
Bagaric said the case was due back in
the Greek Supreme Court on March 4 but
there was no guarantee it would proceed
on that date.
He said
it would be the middle of next year at
the earliest before authorities could
return him to Australia.
Mokbel's
High Court challenge was based on a
claim his extradition papers were
invalid because then Justice Minister
David Johnston signed them, not then
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.
Justices
Michael Kirby and Susan Crennan rejected
his arguments, saying Parliament
envisaged any relevant minister being
able to sign.
The High
Court ordered him to pay the
Commonwealth's legal costs, which are
expected to be substantial.
 On
December 24, 2007, it was
reported that the
Purana gangland taskforce was to
begin investigating a new set of
crime figures in the new year
after it has successfully
dismantled much of Tony
Mokbel's drug syndicate.
John
Silvester wrote that police said
Mokbel still has secret
sources of income that fund his
legal team in Greece.
Detective
Superintendent Richard Grant
(crime strategy group) said that
while the Mokbel syndicate had
been smashed, splinter groups
continue to operate.
"We
would not say it has collapsed
but it is collapsing. These
people do not give up. They are
very resilient. There is so much
money to be made that they
continue to operate even when
they are under
investigation," he said.
Detective
Superintendent Grant said while
work continued on preparing for
a series of Mokbel-related court
hearings, the taskforce was set
to launch a series of fresh
investigations into new targets.
He said any future
investigations would use the
same methods developed by Purana
and would involve other
enforcement bodies, including
the Australian Crime Commission
and the Taxation Department.
While taskforce policing was
expensive and drains resources,
Detective Superintendent Grant
said a joint study by Victoria
Police, the ACC and Macquarie
University showed Purana more
than paid its way.
The
joint study found Purana Phase
One — which investigated
underworld murders — cost
$11.3 million but returned $60.5
million. Detectives seized drugs
valued at $300,000, proceeds of
crime ($2.5 million) and closed
five commercial amphetamine
labs. The disruption of crime by
the arrests of the major players
is estimated to have saved $57.7
million.
"The
closing of clandestine labs
resulted in drugs not hitting
the street and as a consequence
there were substantial savings
to the community and health
services through harm
avoided," he said. The
study estimated the disruption
of drug production for 12 months
resulted in a return on
investment of 536%. Detective
Superintendent Grant said the
State Government had committed
$92 million over six years to
fight organised crime and police
had to provide a business model
to show that the money was used
efficiently.
Purana
phase one was the highest
priority investigation in
Victoria and virtually
monopolised the police
electronic and physical
surveillance capacity —
bugging 500,000 telephone
conversations, taping 53,000
hours of conversations with
secret listening devices and
conducting 22,000 hours of
physical surveillance. As a
result, 58 offenders were
charged with 298 offences and
six key underworld figures
became prosecution witnesses.
On
January 31, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that nine men allegedly involved in
the $4.2
million drug syndicate controlled by Tony
Mokbel would face a preliminary hearing the next month.
The group, referred to as The Company,
are accused of manufacturing 42kg of amphetamines, with some of the
proceeds used to help finance Mokbel.
The men appeared briefly in Melbourne
Magistrates' Court where their contested committal hearing was set down
for March 3.
The accused are: Robert Benedetti,
George Elias, Christopher Ferraro, Chafic Issa, Joseph Mansour, Batholomew
Rizzo, Andrew Ryan, Jamie Saro
(believed to have been arrested in Sydney after the other men had been
nabbed) David
Tricarico.
Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge ordered the
men to reappear in court next month.
 On
February 25, 2008, the Age reported that Mokbel,
was facing the decision of his life, as his protracted legal fight to
avoid extradition appeared set to fail within days.
Mokbel knew he faced a life sentence with no minimum if he was found guilty of the murder and drug charges he
faced in Victoria and
that his only way out was to try to cut a deal with senior prosecutors.
A source close to the Mokbel family said the alleged head of
Australia's biggest drug cartel was prepared to "sing like a
canary" when he returns to Victoria.
His final appeal against his court-ordered extradition was set to be
heard in Athens the following week, but it was believed he was resigned to
losing.
Several police who had pursued the prodigious drug trafficker for
years were confident he did not want to face a series of unrelenting
and financially draining trials.
Mokbel had already informally confessed to police his drug-dealing
activities while continuing to declare his innocence to murder
charges.
Investigators claimed that if Mokbel agreed to become Australia's
highest-profile supergrass he could provide evidence of:
■Detectives providing tip-offs over investigations and
supplying wholesale precursor drug chemicals to crime groups.
■Corrupt local government officials approving permits for
drug-funded Mokbel property developments.
■Finance officers accepting bribes to rubber-stamp massive
loans on the basis of drug-inflated financial figures.
■Businessmen fronting Mokbel-controlled companies in return
for secret commissions.
■Racing identities, including jockeys, bookies and officials,
co-operating with Mokbel even after he was banned from owning horses
and later warned off race tracks.
One former detective serving a sentence for drug trafficking in a
country jail "turned grey and didn't eat for three days"
after he learnt of Mokbel's arrest in June 2007, a fellow inmate said.
A senior lawyer said the only bargaining chip Mokbel had left was
to provide detailed statements against police, racing identities and
government officials he had bribed over 20 years.
Mokbel was listed to reappear in an Athens court in early March for
his final appeal against an extradition order.
He had already said he wants to talk to the Office of Police
Integrity when he is forced to return to Melbourne.
OPI deputy director Graham Ashton said his investigators intended
to question Mokbel about his alleged police links.
Police said Mokbel was likely to return as early as June after he
had
completed a 12-month sentence for false document offences, imposed by
an Athens court. Greek authorities could waive the final three months
and order his immediate extradition.
While in custody Mokbel used a mobile phone to contact a senior
Purana investigator with a message — "I may be a drug
trafficker but I'm no murderer".
He warned the investigator that if he was pursued he would
"drop a bombshell" on police corruption.
Racing sources said some high-profile figures were becoming
increasingly nervous about an Australian Crime Commission
investigation into Mokbel's continued links to the industry, including
using front men to conceal his large bets and continued racehorse
ownership.
At least one trusted insider has turned against him and several
protected witnesses are prepared to testify for the prosecution.
Legal sources said Mokbel may try to broker a deal where he
pleads guilty to further drug trafficking charges if he is not pursued
over the two murder offences.
This would mean he would likely be sentenced to a jail term of
about 25 years rather than life with no chance of release.
Mokbel once secretly approached gangland investigators and said he
would instruct several drug dealers, including Carl
Williams, to plead guilty if there was a guarantee they would serve
short jail stints. He then declared he would stop the underworld war
"and there would be no more blood on the streets" if police
stopped pursuing his syndicate.
Police and prosecutors said any proposed deal with Mokbel would be
considered only if he was prepared to give evidence as a prosecution
witness in future corruption trials.
On
February 26, 2008, it was reported that Tony Mokbel's Greek
lawyers were expected to argue the following week that the controversy surrounding
Channel 9's Underbelly drama
was further evidence the convicted
drug trafficker will be unable to get a fair trial in Melbourne.
But with at least three gangland murder trials yet to run, the
Underbelly series may not be broadcast in Victoria until mid-2009.
If extradited, Mokbel will face a committal hearing and possibly two
trials that will not be heard for at least a year.
The current Victorian suppression order imposed by Justice Betty King
against the airing of Underbelly in Victoria relates to one
trial only, which is expected to be concluded by the end of April.
But prosecutors and lawyers, including those involved in the Mokbel
murder case, will consider seeking extended injunctions against the TV
show until all gangland prosecutions are concluded.
A third gangland trial is not scheduled to begin until the second
half of this year.
Director of Public Prosecutions Jeremy Rapke, QC, declined to comment
on whether he would seek further injunctions against Underbelly but has
indicated his opposition to the series adversely affecting a trial that
begins on March 31.
Mirko Bagaric, Mokbel's lawyer who represented him in the original
Greek extradition hearing, said appeal lawyers could use Underbelly's
pending broadcast to bolster arguments he could not get a fair trial in
Victoria.
On February 29, 2008, the Melbourne Magistrates Court
heard that on April 11 last year, according to a witness, Bartholomew Rizzo
approached the Sunshine shopping plaza with an envelope containing $2000 cash and
photographs of Danielle McGuire and her months-old daughter
Renate.
It is said that Rizzo referred to the
baby girl as the "heir to the throne" — presumably the one
vacated in 2007 in Melbourne by her father
Tony
Mokbel, when he skipped bail to flee overseas.
The court heard that Rizzo handed the photos and money to Ms McGuire's mother.
Security camera footage captured the meeting, which was also attended by
Joseph Mansour.
It was revealed that Mansour,
described as a principal organiser of Mokbel's alleged drug group The
Company, had turned against Mokbel.
Mansour, 29, of Park Orchards, pleaded
guilty during the
week to six charges including trafficking a large commercial
quantity of methamphetamine and dealing with the proceeds of crime —
$4.2 million.
He
has made statements to police implicating other members of The Company.
His decision to help police follows that of another insider. According
to evidence tendered in court after brothers Chafic Issa, of Clayton South, and George Elias, of Bonnie
Doon, were
sent for trial, The Company allegedly produced amphetamines worth about
$4.2 million in 12 months.
It was alleged that Issa was found by
police in Burwood on May 5 with $499,950 cash in a shopping bag, news
that Mokbel greeted with the demand that they "get back to
work".
After police infiltrated The Company with
an undercover officer, a suspicious Mokbel ordered he be searched. Rizzo
was later alleged to have undressed in front of the undercover officer
as a sign of trust before the officer did the same to show he was not
"wired".
Issa and Elias, who reserved their pleas,
will face the Supreme Court. Rizzo, of Box Hill North, David Tricarico,
of Doncaster East, Andrew Ryan, of Mitcham, Robert Benedetti, of
Templestowe, and Christopher Ferraro, of East Doncaster, were
to face a
contested committal hearing the following week.
On
March 2, 2008, it was reported that Mokbel had hired the lawyer who advised accused war criminal Ratko
Mladic - the so-called "Butcher of Bosnia" - to fight his
extradition from Greece.
High-profile international lawyer
Alexander Lykourezos was to represent Mokbel at a final appeal
hearing in the Supreme Court in Athens on March 4..
Mr Lykourezos said rumours his new client
was ready to roll over and return to Australia were false.
"We will exhaust all legal weapons.
We have grounds to fight and we are going to fight," he said.
Mr Lykourezos said he saw similarities
between the media treatment of Mokbel in Australia and the coverage of
accused Bosnian-Serb warlord Mladic. The lawyer is friend and one-time
legal adviser to Mladic.
Both Mladic and Mokbel had been
mistreated by the media, Mr Lykourezos said.
Mladic, one of Europe's most wanted men,
has been indicted by a UN war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide and
other crimes against humanity.
Mr Lykourezos has a history of accepting
tough cases. He was part of an unsuccessful bid in 1999 to prosecute
NATO for alleged war crimes over its bombing of Kosovo.
Mokbel was in good shape physically and
emotionally, Mr Lykourezos said.
"He has good morale," he said.
Mokbel's legal team was still deciding
whether to proceed with a possible appeal to the European Court of Human
Rights, he said.
 On
March 2, 2008, that Herald Sun reported that Danielle McGuire
(right) has seen some of Channel 9's
Underbelly on the internet from her home in Athens.
Mokbel's legal team plans to use the
series as part of its argument at the Supreme Court in Athens this week
against his extradition.
Lawyer Alexander Lykourezos said he
hadn't seen the series, but had talked about it to Ms McGuire, who had
seen some footage.
He said the show added weight to argument
it was impossible for Mokbel to have a fair trial in Australia.
On
March 3, 2008, a man who gave his passport to Mokbel told a court how he allowed his house to be used as a drugs laboratory.
The man, who can be identified only as
RHS3030, told a committal hearing at Melbourne Magistrates' Court that
in December 2005 he allowed his premises to be used for the production
of large quantities of drugs.
RHS3030 and eight other men are facing
the committal hearing, accused of manufacturing 42kg of amphetamines.
They are alleged to be key members in an
amphetamine manufacturing network known as "The Company'' which was
controlled by Mokbel until his arrest in Greece in June last year.
The informer told the court he got
involved with The Company when a friend, Bart Rizzo, asked if he could
use his spare room for mixing amphetamines in December 2005.
He said he handed his current and expired
passports to Mr Rizzo last April and was quizzed on personal details by
a man who relayed the information to Mokbel by phone.
3030 said he learned of the $1 million
reward for information leading to Mokbel's capture around that time but
had not put in a claim.
"My motivation was simply to keep
myself from going to jail," he said.
He denied money was the real reason, but
did not rule out seeking part of the reward after the case was over.
He admitted helping transfer money that
he believed was going to Mokbel, including paying a "travel
agent" who was arranging the drug trafficker's escape from
Australia.
Speaking on closed circuit TV, RHS3030,
who was once a heavy cocaine user, told Magistrate Maurice Gurvich that
he saw 10 large bags of drugs weighing about 2kg each in his house.
He also told the hearing that he was
asked to give his passport to Mokbel so it could be "analysed'',
before it was handed back to him.
RHS3030, who had worn a listening device
during much of the time he was involved with the eight accused men, also
told the court that one of the accused had made him aware of a reward
that had been offered for information leading to Mokbel's arrest. The
witness said he believed the reward was for "up to $1
million".
He had approached police through a friend
in the force in April 2007 and offered to assist them with their
inquiries into Mokbel and the production of amphetamines by his
associates. The friend, a fellow musician, took RHS3030 to meet Purana
taskforce detectives.
Mokbel was arrested in Athens two months
later.
RHS3030 also said that he had played in a
band in the mid 1990s which performed at a gig aimed at raising money to
pay legal fees for notorious Carlton gangster Alphonse
Gangitano who was murdered in 1998 during Melbourne's
gangland war.
On
March 5, 2007, the Herald Sun reported
that although he 'dresses, speaks and
looks like an extra out of The
Sopranos',
Tony
Mokbel was furious his life has been
made into a Channel 9 drama.
Mokbel said the Underbelly drama had ensured
he could never get a fair trial in Victoria.
His family
was believed to have seen the show.
Mokbel was particularly furious his
partner Danielle McGuire was also featured in the series.
On March 5, 2008, Mokbel ruled out cutting any deals with
Australian authorities if he loses his fight against extradition from
Greece.
Mokbel was to learn later in the month
whether the Supreme Court in Athens would force him to return to
Melbourne, where he faces about 20 criminal charges including two of
murder.
He denies any involvement in the alleged offences.
Heading into the court for the hearing, a smiling Mokbel was asked if he
thought he might be back in Australia soon.
"I hope not," he replied.
Asked where he wanted to be, he told reporters: "Somewhere you can
get a fair trial," before adding there was "no hope" that
could happen in Australia.
Media reports have suggested Mokbel is considering striking a deal with
senior prosecutors in Victoria if Greece's highest court decides on
March 18 to send him home.
"I don't do no deals with nobody,'' Mokbel said upon leaving the
court after a failed attempt to postpone a hearing into whether he
should be extradited.
"I wouldn't give the satisfaction to anybody - if I know anything
about anyone - you've got to die with pride. That's life.''
In a day of surprises, it was revealed for the first time the Lebanese
Government had formally requested Mokbel be flown to Beirut to have drug
trafficking offences and all 20 Australian charges heard in its
jurisdiction.
"If he goes to Australia he will have to be extradited
anyway," Mokbel's lawyer, Alexandros Lykourezos, told the
court.
"Two trials in two different countries, this is not fair. Lebanon
want to try him for everything."
Mokbel's lawyers claim he will not receive a fair trial in Australia
because of the publicity his case has generated.
Constantine Karageorge, a former lawyer, said he had followed the case
for a number of years and knew Mokbel's life was "in danger".
"Not only from the underworld but police themselves because they
want him to shut his mouth, to keep him silent," he said.
He told the court Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon
"cannot control" police.
Mr Karageorge was a high-profile lawyer in Sydney who represented every
underworld figure dating back to the 1970s, including notorious
gangsters Lenny McPherson and George Freeman.
Mr Karageorge said he had evidence a DFAT consular official, who was
also an ASIO agent, had been passing emails of sensitive information to
a judge's associate in the lower Greek court.
Mr Karageorge alleged the correspondence was an attempt to pervert the
course of justice.
Another of Mokbel's lawyers, Yiannis Vlachos, confirmed his client was
considering a further appeal to the Strasbourg-based European Court of
Human Rights if the Supreme Court rules in favour of his extradition.
"But that is a separate process, and we will see whether we will
follow it,'' Vlachos said.
"The European Court can ask the Greek government to freeze the
extradition process until a decision is taken.''
Mokbel appeared in court today dressed in a dark suit and red tie,
flanked by police guards.
Sitting one row in front of him was his girlfriend, Danielle McGuire,
who arrived at the court with the couple's baby daughter.
Mokbel was arrested in Athens in June last year after skipping bail in
Melbourne in early 2006 while on trial for drug smuggling.
He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to a minimum nine years'
jail.
Three Greek Appeals Court judges granted Australia's request for
Mokbel's extradition in July 2007, but his lawyers hope the Supreme
Court will overturn that ruling.
Mokbel's legal team have argued Australia's extradition order was
invalid because former justice minister David Johnston signed the
paperwork rather than the then attorney-general, Philip Ruddock.
In making its decision about Mokbel's return, the court will also have
to consider whether he has to serve out a one-year sentence he was
handed in September by another Athens court after being found guilty of
holding a fake passport and driver's licence.
Today's hearing comes after Mokbel exhausted all his legal attempts in
Australia in December to avoid extradition.
The High Court in Melbourne refused Mokbel's attempt to seek special
leave to appeal against being returned from Athens.
Homicide detectives believe a killer or
killers deliberately lured a former student of a scholl which produced several men facing charges in relation to Mokbel's drug manufacturing group known as the 'Company' to a sports reserve in Melbourne's east
where he was stabbed to death, doused with fuel and incinerated inside a
late-model Jeep Cherokee on March 9, 2008.
Firefighters found the man's charred body
slumped across the front seat of the burnt-out Jeep behind an oval at
the East Burwood Reserve just before 11.30pm.
The victim, believed to be in his early
20s, had been stabbed to death. Police refused to confirm or deny
reports the dead man was James Russouw, or whether he had possible
gangland links.
It is believed that the Cherokee was
registered to Mr Russouw's father but that his son and others sometimes
drove it.
Police and the fire brigade were called
to the reserve after neighbours reported hearing up to three explosions
and seeing the fire.
The body was discovered after the fire
was put out.
"Due to the intense heat, there's
not a lot that I can tell you about the body," homicide detective
Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles said.
Det Senior Sergeant Iddles said police
would not be able to positively identify the victim without dental
records because the body was so badly burned. Asked if the murder could
be another gangland killing, Senior Sergeant Iddles said: "No. If
it's the person we believe it is, there's nothing in their background to
suggest something like that. He did not have a criminal history, put it
that way."
Det Sen-Sgt Iddles said although friends
had told them Mr Russouw was involved with drugs, there was no substance
to claims he was connected with other former Whitefriars College
students linked with the alleged Mokbel
drug network.
(As mentioned previously, Bartholomew
Rizzo, Joseph John Mansour and Christopher Lee Ferraro graduated
from Whitefriars in 1996 after completing year 12.
David Tricarico left the school
after year 9 in 1998.)
Det Sen-Sgt Iddles said the victim had either driven the
vehicle to the reserve or been a passenger. An autopsy found he died of
multiple stab wounds.
Senior Sergeant Iddles said the Jeep's
owner had been interviewed by police and was shocked when told what had
happened. Senior Sergeant Iddles refused to say whether the associates
who regularly used the car were friends, relatives or business
colleagues of the owner.
"At this stage it is unclear as to
who had that vehicle (before the murder)," he said. "From a
process of elimination, we've worked out who we think had the car, but
the problem with that is there's a time frame of about an hour where he
could have picked someone up, he could have dropped someone off, and
until we get some dental records we're not going to know who that person
is because that's how badly burned the body is."
He said it appeared the killer or killers
had carefully planned the murder, bringing accelerant to the reserve on
Burwood Highway, opposite Mahoneys Road, to use to torch the car.
"With the blood outside the vehicle
on the roadway it's more consistent with (the victim) being killed here
rather than somewhere else and then driven here.
"There's some planning in it … if
you came here to meet somebody you wouldn't necessarily have a drum of
petrol or some other accelerant to light the car, so you'd obviously
have to have material with you when you've arrived here."
On March 16, 2008, Tony Mokbel's Greek lawyer said his client not receive a fair trial here due to the TV series Underbelly.
Mokbel could be back in Australia within months to face trial for murder after he lost his appeal against his extradition in Greece's highest court.
His lawyer Yannis Vlachos said Mokbel would not receive a fair trial due to the Nine Network's series, which tells the story of Melbourne's infamous gangland wars.
"There is a violation of his right for a fair trial because of a TV series,'' Mr Vlachos told ABC Radio.
"It is a very, very, very, very, very, very, great violation of his rights.''
Underbelly has been banned from airing in Victoria due to a Supreme Court ruling that it could prejudice a separate upcoming murder trial.
In Athens, it took just three minutes for a court to pronounce the four words Mokbel has dreaded since his arrest in Greece last June.
"You will be extradited," judge Constantios Sarandinos told him last night, in Greece's Supreme Court.
After a nine-month legal battle, seven judges granted Australia's official request for Mokbel's extradition.
The decision took less than five minutes to read out and appeared to initially confuse Mokbel, who had to rely on a translator to spell out the news as his distressed girlfriend Danielle McGuire looked on from the back row of the court.
"What happened?" she cried, "does anyone know what happened?" She rushed their baby Renate to Mokbel, sobbing, "I love you, I love you darl."
Mokbel, who had entered the court all smiles, replied, "I love you too, darl. Goodbye."
Mokbel gave his little girl a quick peck on the cheek, telling her, "I love you, babe'' and shared a quick embrace with Ms McGuire's eldest daughter, 12-year-old Brittany, before being led away to the court's cells.
As he was led away, he said no one in Melbourne had cause to worry about his return.
"The only person who has anything to worry about is me," he said. "I won't get a fair trial. Anyone who has any sense knows I won't get a fair trial there."
Mokbel said he would prefer to be extradited to anywhere else, including Beirut.
"You would probably get a fairer trial for me in bloody Indonesia," he said.
Mokbel lawyer Alexander Lykourezos said five charges had been rejected for extradition, including four drug offences and one of perverting the course of justice. He said Mokbel could now not be tried in Australia on these charges.
However, the judges agreed there were sufficient grounds to force him to return based on the 15 other charges, for which he can now be tried.
Lawyer Yiannis Vlachos said a Lebanese warrant had arrived just minutes before the decision, but was overruled.
Greece's Justice Minister Sotirios Hatzigakis is now expected to take between one and two months to sign the official paperwork that will pave the way for Mokbel's return.
However, Mokbel's lawyers are considering lodging an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in a last-ditch bid to save him having to set foot on Australian soil.
Australian police want him returned so he can serve his time behind bars and face trial for the murders of Melbourne underworld figure Lewis Moran and drug dealer Michael Marshall as well as other drug offences.
The panel of judges also heard from Mokbel himself, who claimed the Federal Government and Victorian police were running a "vendetta" against him, and that there had been threats made on his and Ms McGuire's life.
Mokbel was surrounded by family and friends including Constantine Karageorge, the long-time lawyer for Sydney underworld figures Lenny McPherson and George Freeman, and a man just known as George, a former Melbourne and Greek nightclub owner.
Before handing down their decision, the judges asked Mokbel, dressed in a sombre dark suit, red tie and white shirt, if he had anything to say.
He simply replied: "Thank you for hearing our case''.
Mokbel's lawyer Alexander Lykourezos said he "will exhaust all means of the law in order to avoid extradition''.
Asked what options were still open, given it is rare for a Greek justice minister to overturn a court's extradition ruling, Mr Lykourezos said: "It's a question of imagination''.
"He is not going to get a fair trial in Australia because of the huge publicity and his life is in danger,'' he said.
Mokbel's former lawyer in Australia, Mirko Bagaric, described the court's decision as a "setback for Tony''.
"This is the last domestic legal stage in Greece,'' Mr Bagaric said.
"What he may contemplate now is to take a submission to the minister or his second option is to appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights.
"You don't have to be a citizen of Europe to avail yourself to that right and I think that's an avenue that his lawyers in Greece will be considering at this time.
"Tony may stay in Greece until the outcome of that appeal is known, which may be another year or so, or even if an appeal is lodged he might be sent back to Australia.''
 On March 18, 2008, Greece's highest court ruled Mokbel should be returned to Australia on most of the 20 charges he faces.
A seven-member panel of the Greek Supreme Court approved Australia's extradition request on all but five charges against the convicted drug trafficker.
Chief judge Konstantinos Sarandinos said that if returned to Australia, Mokbel could not be tried on four charges of conspiracy to traffic drugs and one of perverting the course of justice.
Greek Justice Minister Sotiris Hadjigakis now has to approve the extradition, which might take up to two months. While it is extremely unusual for a justice minister to overturn a Supreme Court decision, Mokbel's lawyer said he had not ruled out asking the minister to delay the extradition.
As a defiant Mokbel claimed he would get a fairer trial in Indonesia than Australia, his lawyer, Greece's highest-paid criminal counsel, Alexandros Lykourezos, said he would try every legal option to stop Mokbel returning to Australia.
Asked what that could be, he said: "It's a question of imagination. All I can say is that we will exhaust every means, including perhaps going to the European Court of Human Rights."
Mokbel told The Age: "I'm not gonna get a fair trial. Australia is a country in which I'm hoping there is a bit of humanity. But for me, I would get a fairer trial in Indonesia."
Asked if any members of Victoria Police had anything to be concerned about if he returned to Melbourne, he said: "No one has anything to worry about, just me."
As police led him out of the court and on his way to jail in the central Greece town of Larissa, he kissed girlfriend Danielle McGuire, their baby Renate and his stepdaughter, telling them he loved them. Mokbel's likely return to Australia is further complicated by the fact that Lebanon, of which Mokbel is also a citizen, has launched a rival extradition request.
On March 19, 2008, a cort heard Mokbel's right-hand man delivered $100,000 to him after his boss told him he would flee Australia.
Trusted lieutenant Joseph John Mansour turned against Mokbel and pleaded guilty to six charges, including drug trafficking.
The Supreme Court heard Mansour doled out thousands of dollars in cash to Mokbel's relatives and associates as ordered by Mokbel over a mobile phone.
Mansour admitted dealing in more than $4.2 million in drugs as one of the key organisers of a drug manufacturing business dubbed The Company by its "employees".
The court heard Mokbel warned Mansour in March 2006 he was going to flee and Mansour delivered more than $100,000 to a hide-out in Bonnie Doon in October 2006 to help pay for his escape.
The court was told the drug organisation was run like a legitimate enterprise, with accounts kept on a computer spreadsheet.
Mansour's job was to organise other members of the group in the manufacture of amphetamines, organise chemical supplies and to distribute funds.
Police uncovered 44 instances where Mansour handed out money at Mokbel's behest, including $60,000 paid to Mokbel's defacto Danielle McGuire, a $2000 birthday gift to her mother and $10,000 to Mokbel's mother on Christmas Day.
Many thousands of dollars more were transferred to Greek accounts or used to cover legal fees for Mokbel's brother and sister-in-law.
Mansour has pleaded guilty to trafficking in methylamphetamine and ecstasy, dealing in the proceeds of crime and dealing with property restrained by court order.
The Supreme Court heard Mansour and others arranged to collect almost $500,000 in cash to be given to Mokbel in 2007, but police intercepted the money.
An irate Mokbel allegedly warned them they would have to get back to work to earn him another half a million.
Mansour has made statements to police about his co-accused and the activities of The Company.
On March 20, 2008, the Supreme Court heard that Joseph Mansour wanted help from Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Evans to break free from the cocaine smuggler's spell and that Mansour considered telling Mr Evans -- a friend of his parents -- he had got in with the wrong crowd and wanted to break away.
Mansour's father John said his son had asked him to invite the assistant commissioner to their home, but in the rush to get organised for an overseas trip the invitation was never extended and Mansour never spoke to Mr Evans.
Mansour was arrested while his parents were overseas. He later told his father he knew he was in a lot of trouble.
"He didn't know who to speak to, he didn't know how to get out of it," Mr Mansour said.
"The reason he asked us to bring this friend (Mr Evans) over is because he could trust him."
Mansour's parents and girlfriend did not know about his involvement with Mokbel, the court heard.
The court heard Joseph John Mansour doled out thousands in cash to Mokbel's relatives and associates as ordered by Mokbel over a mobile phone.
Defence counsel Brendan Murphy, QC, said Mansour was under Mokbel's spell after an accidental meeting at a nightclub.
"(He was) impressed by him and once he was in there was no easy way to get out," Mr Murphy said.
Justice Betty King did not accept that Mansour was under Mokbel's spell, but that rather he was persuaded by Mokbel's lifestyle.
Forensic psychologist Jeffrey Cummins said Mansour was delusional about the nature of his relationship with Mokbel.
"He's very naive. In my opinion he had put Mr Mokbel on a pedestal. He had regarded his relationship with Mr Mokbel as being a very special relationship, so special that, from my perspective, it could be regarded as being out of touch with reality," Mr Cummins said.
Mansour told Mr Cummins he did not feel there was an easy way out of his relationship with Mr Mokbel and he felt trapped.
"Tony used to say he knew a lot of police and he had a lot of police on his side," Mansour told Mr Cummins.
The Herald Sun reported the previous week that police have been ordered to name "improper" friends, family and associates, with the names to be listed on a central register available to anti-corruption investigators.
Det-Sgt Martin Robertson, of Purana, said Mokbel could be considered to have groomed Mansour, who had no previous convictions.
"Mokbel would have seen the value of using someone like that to further his enterprise," he said.
Mr Murphy said Mansour's guilty plea and valuable co-operation with authorities should be taken into account in sentencing him.
Mansour has pleaded guilty to six charges including trafficking in methylamphetamine and ecstasy, dealing in the proceeds of crime and dealing with property restrained by court order.
Justice King remanded Mansour for later sentencing.
On April 7, 2008, Mansour was sentenced to 10 years in jail for drug trafficking and other offences.
In sentencing, Justice Betty King said he had been "totally under the spell of Tony Mokbel".
"You developed total dependence on Mr Mokbel," Justice King said.
"You put Mr Mokbel on a pedestal ... you were out of touch with reality."
In his role as one of the more prominent members of 'The Company', Mansour assisted his boss's escape from Australia and supplied money to him while on the run in Greece.
Among his charges was one of knowingly dealing with $4.2 million which were the proceeds of crime.
He was sentenced to 10 years, to serve a minimum of seven.
Mansour acted as Mokbel's right-hand man in Australia, distributing funds at his request, organising the manufacture of amphetamines and supply of chemicals.
The court heard a loyal band of Mokbel men, known as The Company, made 42kg of methylamphetamine with a wholesale value of $4.2 million and a street value "in the tens of millions of dollars".
Justice King said Mokbel may have been starved of resources and funds required to flee the country and maintain his lifestyle in Greece had it not been for The Company.
The court heard Mansour knew Mokbel was preparing to leave Australia and organised more than $100,000 to be delivered to his Bonnie Doon hideout.
Justice King said Mokbel oversaw the drug operation after absconding on bail during his drug trial by keeping in contact with Mansour on a mobile phone.
"One thing is clear and that is that the major beneficiary of this organisation was Antonios Mokbel," she said.
Justice King said The Company operated like a legitimate business, keeping track of customers, monitoring the quality of their goods and updating detailed account books.
The court heard the generous profits of the drug trafficking were handed out at Mokbel's request, including $60,000 to de facto Danielle McGuire, a $2000 birthday gift to her mother and $10,000 to Mokbel's mother at Christmas.
Thousands of dollars were transferred to Greek accounts for Mokbel's use.
Mansour pleaded guilty to trafficking in methylamphetamine and ecstasy, dealing in proceeds of crime and dealing with restrained property.
Justice King rejected Mansour's claims that he was under Mokbel's "spell", saying his drug trafficking increased during 2006 when the two were out of contact.
But she said Mansour deserved a significant discount for undertaking to give evidence against his associates.
On April 11, 2008, Graeme Smith, a suspected associate of Mokbel who was arrested at Melbourne University, was given bail on drugs charges.
Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard that Smith was supplied with suspected drug-making chemicals, equipment and cash by Mokbel and his associates.
Smith, 47, of North Carlton faced the court accused of involvement in a suspected drug laboratory at Toolern Vale, near Melton.
The court heard that Mr Smith, an IT support specialist at Melbourne University, was employed by Mokbel in early 2005 to manufacture methylamphetamine.
Sen-Det Katherine Underwood, of the Purana Taskforce, gave evidence that Mr Smith, Mokbel and others made the drug at the Toolern Vale property over two days.
She said a second lab was set up in Springvale.
Sen-Det Underwood said Mr Smith spent a month at Toolern Vale doing drug experiments and research.
Mr Smith and a co-accused made three litres of liquid amphetamine, Sen-Det Underwood said.
She said that in June 2005, Mr Smith made a 17-second phone call from Toolern Vale to his home address.
Sen-Det Underwood said a police search of the Springvale lab uncovered a .22 calibre revolver, eight litres of methylamphetamine, caustic soda, and some prohibited pre-cursor chemicals.
She said analysis of a piece of glassware found among a trailer-load of funnels and vessels at the Springvale property was matched to Mr Smith.
The court heard Mr Smith's two co-accused had earlier been granted bail.
Police did not oppose his bail application.
Mr Smith faces three charges, including trafficking and attempting to traffic a large commercial quantity of amphetamine between March and August 2005, and possessing amphetamine between June and July 2005.
Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt fixed bail on strict conditions, including a $60,000 surety and that he report to police and surrender his passport.
He said that in fairness, Mr Smith should not be denied bail when his co-accused -- who are facing more charges -- were granted it.
On April 11, 2008, the Herald Sun reported that an international court was told Tony Mokbel claimed he would be treated like a Guantanamo Bay terror suspect if returned to Victoria.
Mokbel's submission to the European Court of Human Rights said he would be subjected to death threats and mental torture if sent back.
The court had been asked to formally request the Greek Government not to extradite him to Melbourne.
Mokbel's application, received by the court and seen by the Herald Sun, asked for provisional postponement on grounds of potential violation of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Article 3 prohibits "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", torture and cases of "severe police violence", and had been cited by terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay at the hands of US authorities.
Mokbel's application said his extradition would result in the great likelihood Australian authorities would apply such "prohibited treatment".
"Mr Mokbel's life is in jeopardy, due to daily threats towards him," it stated.
His application cited an international court case, Vilho Eskelinen v. Finland, which a year before led to a change in international case law regarding rights to a fair hearing in an adequate time frame.
Mokbel had in the previous month claimed his life was at risk by corrupt Victorian police and criminals, who he alleged were scared of him revealing details of their activities.
His lawyer, Chirdaris Vassilis, said he had proof Mokbel's human rights were in danger if he returned to Victoria, but the case would be tough to prove.
"We are not ambitious for a decision in favour of Mr Mokbel," Mr Vassilis said.
"However, we have specific facts that a clear violation against Mr Mokbel's rights that are protected by the European Convention of Human Rights, has occurred."
The case was to be reviewed by a panel of three judges and a decision is expected in 15 to 20 days.
 On April 14, 2008, Zlate "Steve" Cvetanovski, an alleged associate of Tony Mokbel, was arrested by Purana Taskforce detectives at Melbourne airport.
Cvetanovski, 41, of Avondale Heights, was charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of methamphetamines and possessing $72,000, believed to be the proceeds of crime.
Later in the day appeared in an out-of-sessions court.
Police told the court a protected witness who could not be named for legal reasons, gave detailed accounts of the running of two clandestine drug laboratories at Preston and Strathmore, with the help of Cvetanovski.
Police alleged the unnamed witness was the main manufacturer of methamphetamines for the Mokbel syndicate.
Senior Detective Craig Hayes, of Purana, told the hearing that Mr Cvetanovski was an associate of Tony Mokbel and two of his brothers.
The hearing was told a chief Mokbel drug cook, who could only be referred to as a "protective witness", gave "numerous statements" to police after his arrest in 2006.
Sen-Det Hayes said the "protective witness" was an integral worker "for and on behalf of the criminal enterprise revolving around the Mokbel crime syndicate".
Sen-Det Hayes told the hearing "protective witness" implicated Mr Cvetanovski in the syndicate's drug manufacturing efforts at a clandestine drug lab between 2005 and 2006.
The court heard the lab operated in a business premises in High St, Preston before being moved to Lloyd St, Strathmore.
Sen-Det Hayes said Mr Cvetanovski was paid up to $200,000 to help in the manufacture of amphetamines in High St.
Police alleged up to 260kgs of pure methylamphetamine were produced at the High St lab.
"He (Mr Cvetanovski) stated a desire to learn as much as he could about the manufacturing process," Sen-Det Hayes said.
The hearing was told Mr Cvetanovski helped move the lab to the Strathmore premises.
When police raided that lab they allegedly found mobile phones, a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver.
"The guns were in full working order," Sen-Det Hayes said.
Mr Cvetanovski said he had a sick mother and two teenage children to care for and a new business to run, but bail justice Roger Isherwood refused him bail.
The hearing was told Mr Cvetanovski had already breached existing bail conditions by moving in with his mother.
Cvetanovski was deemed an unacceptable risk and refused bail.
He was remanded to reappear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court in July.
On May 7, 2008, Tony Mokbel lost his last appeal against being deported after Greek Justice Minister Sotiris Hadjigakis ratified a decision by the Supreme Court two months before.
The minister ruled he should be sent to Australia to face up to 17 charges related to drug importation and the deaths of
Lewis Moran and Michael Marshall.
The approval was the last formal step in the legal process to approve an extradition that began almost a year before.
It was expected Victoria Police detectives will travel to Athens to collect Mokbel and escort him back.
One of Mokbel's many lawyers, Yiannis Vlachos, confirmed the long battle to avoid justice in Australia was over.
Victoria's Police Minister Bob Cameron said there had been no official word from Greece on Mokbel.
"We welcome the news coming out of Greece," he said last night. "However, Victoria Police is yet to receive any official confirmation."
 On May 10, 2008, Age reporter John Silvester wrote that with Mokbel's "Big Fat Greek Adventure coming to a close the alleged organised crime boss faced a clear choice — freedom or family".
Now that Greek Justice Minister Sotiris Hadjigakis had signed the formal extradition papers Mokbel would be on a plane (either commercial or chartered) within weeks to return to Melbourne to face drug and murder charges.
The prosecution cases, compiled by the Purana Ganglands Taskforce, were based on phone tap material, money trails, key informers and an undercover agent's testimony.
Evidence submitted in recent Magistrates Court hearings allegedly showed Mokbel to be a prodigious drug dealer who doesn't care if the powders his team produce are toxic to his customers.
When told his drugs were making people sick, causing them to go to hospital, Mokbel allegedly gave advice that the powders should be mixed with pseudoephedrine to improve potency levels.
Analysis of the financial patterns is said to have revealed 44 suspect transactions including $10,000 to his mother as a Christmas present. Police also grabbed a courier who was allegedly about to send $500,000 to Mokbel in Greece.
Lawyers, police, criminal associates and even relatives who know Mokbel believe that when he returns he will be desperate to do a deal to seek to minimise his jail sentence.
If he agreed to plead guilty he could be entitled to a discount but possibly not a hefty one. Facing life with no minimum, a mandatory discount would still leave him with a monster sentence. Aged 43, he would know that his bleak future could involve swapping his Ferrari lifestyle for a prison-issue walking frame.
The problem is that Mokbel is unlikely to be able to sweeten the deal by giving up subordinates.
So what does he have to offer?
He will have to give information on the murders of police informer Terence Hodson and wife Christine Hodson, who were killed in their Kew home on May 15, 2004, for authorities to even consider plea discussions. Detectives believe the double murder was set up by a corrupt former member of the drug squad.
Mokbel would have to give up the former police behind the Hodson murders to have a chance of receiving a sentence of less than 30 years. The deal will be simple — rat or rot.
A special taskforce, code-named Petra, is investigating the double murder. Convicted gangland killer Carl Williams has claimed a former policeman told him that Hodson was "a problem" and had to go. Williams claimed the former detective later said the matter had been "sorted". It was just before the double murder.
Hodson, a drug dealer, had been executed after he agreed to give evidence against two detectives, Paul Dale and David Miechel, who had been using him as an informer.
The case against Dale collapsed but Miechel was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 12 years' jail.
Taskforce investigators have secretly visited Miechel in jail but he has refused to co-operate with any investigation.
Some within Purana would prefer Mokbel to run the legal gauntlet but senior lawyers in the Office of Public Prosecutions have privately indicated they want him to become a witness.
While Mokbel might have no issue in sinking bent cops to save himself there is a sticking point. He would have to name the actual killer and the star suspect is a man who is virtually related to him through marriage.
The suspect (later revealed to be Rodney Earl Collins - see below) is a cold-blooded killer implicated in the murders of Mike Schievella, 44, and his partner, Heather McDonald, 36, at their St Andrews home in 1990.
Police said they were bound and tied and their throats slashed. One theory was they were killed because they were suspected of talking to police.
The suspect has been listed as a person of interest in three murders in the 1980s including standover man Brian Kane, who was shot in the Quarry Hotel in Brunswick in 1982.
The man has also been named as a suspect in the murder of lawyer-turned-gangland-figure Mario Condello, who was shot in the garage of his Brighton home in February 2006.
The former armed robber and gunman once formed a hatred against a policeman who had arrested him. His cell was covered with hanged stick-figures with the detective's name scrawled under each one.
Mokbel has previously shown little concern about the welfare of those close to him. When he fled bail his sister-in-law Renata was jailed when she could not produce the $1 million bail surety.
Mokbel's Greek lawyers continue to make noises about their pending appeal to the European Court of Human Rights but they know the jig is up.
Federal authorities remained determined to make Mokbel's return as low key as possible. There would be no fanfare when he returns to Melbourne and is taken to Barwon Prison.
Police Minister Bob Cameron said, "However they get him back here, I'm not particularly fussed and I don't think Victorians are particularly fussed. How much it costs doesn't matter."
Early on May 14, 2008, Mokbel was taken to be held at Korydallos prison in Athens.
He was moved by road from the outlying Larissa Prison, in central Greece and some three hours outside of the capital, pending his extradition.
As the van carrying him veered out of the gate of Larissa prison on the beginning of his long journey back home, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox faithful, who happened to be visiting the town, Patriarch Vartholomaios I, drove past him.
It was a propitious moment for the identity from Melbourne — a man not known for his religiosity but one who realises he will now need all the luck that God can give him.
"I don't know if Tony prays, but he may have done then," said his lawyer Yiannis Vlachos. "He's very down. He's going back to a country where he truly believes he will not be given a fair trial. I think … he liked it here."
Mokbel, more than anyone else, knew that his time in Greece — including nearly 10 months incarcerated in various prison cells — would seem like heaven compared to what awaits him. Indeed, the fugitive was the first to pronounce — before judges, court officials and journalists — that he "loved" Greece, "this beautiful country and its beautiful people".
"He picked up quite a lot of Greek from other inmates and in Larissa made a few friends," said Mr Vlachos. "Conditions were good there. He never complained."
Unlike the strictly monitored regime that he will almost certainly experience in Australia, Mokbel had it easy in Greece — even after he was forced to give up the high life of Athens' riviera and the top-floor seaside apartment he shared with long-time partner Danielle McGuire.
Ms McGuire could visit him regularly — often taking their one-year-old daughter, Renate, with her — providing Mokbel with chocolates, toiletries and newspapers.
"He likes the chocolates and has put on a few pounds," she told The Age during one of his many court appearances.
Mokbel would often request that Ms McGuire also bring him telephone cards — his key to the outside world.
This, and his choice of top-notch lawyers (solicitors he would ultimately go on to fire) set him apart from other inmates, who were often too poor to afford either legal representation or telephone contact.
Unlike other prisoners, Mokbel also made the most of the time he was allowed out of his cell, boasting during one court appearance that he spent "hours in the prison yard and gym" of Larissa jail. "It's good there. You're allowed out from nine to 12 and again in the afternoon. I've even got a suntan."
Such leniency will seem like a far-off dream when he touches down in Melbourne. Already, officials have intimated that in his Victorian prison cell, at least initially, Mokbel will be lucky to see the light of day.
"Undoubtedly conditions in prisons in Greece are much more pleasant than any there," said Constantine Karageorge, a criminal lawyer who worked for years defending underworld figures in Sydney before he moved to Athens.
"Here, Tony was never regarded as a high-security risk and was given a certain amount of freedom. He'll no doubt look back on his days in Greece with great fondness."
It was then unknown whether Ms McGuire would join him in Melbourne.
"There's money here. She could have a good life," Mr Karageorge said. "If she goes back there's always the risk that she could be arrested too, on the charge that she was aware of the whereabouts of a fugitive, but I have no doubt that she will want to give him moral support."
An unshaven Mokbel, wearing a white T-shirt, black jacket and light pants, was escorted from a prison van with his hands cuffed behind his back after arriving at Korydallos.
He was closely watched by armed prison guards wary of an escape attempt or a bid to do him harm.
He spent more than 24 hours waiting alone his cell for a specially chartered flight to Melbourne.
A subdued Mokbel had a final visit from his girlfriend and daughter before his flight.
He had said goodbye to them and his lawyer as he prepared to be returned to Australia.
"I saw him for one hour. He was sitting in the jail in isolation waiting for his embarkation," Yiannis Vlachos told the Herald Sun online.
Athens airport officials said the $34 million Gulfstream jet was scheduled to take off at 5pm (Melbourne time).
Mokbel told reporters that he was sad about leaving Greece.
"When I said goodbye he turned sentimental because he's spent two years in Greece now," Vlachos said.
"It was like every normal person who is about to start a long journey. He was thinking about the time he spent here and what will be coming when he's back."
He told his lawyer he was looking forward to being reunited with his family in Melbourne, albeit in prison, and fighting to clear his name in court.
"He was pretty quiet and I am sad he will be leaving Greece," Mr Vlachos said.
"What he told me was that one positive aspect about his return to Australia is he will meet his family again because it's been very hard for him not to see them for so long.
"On the other hand, he is now preparing himself for what is coming to him. He will try to fight the charges against him in Australia.
"He said he is expecting more fairness in his treatment when he returns and he is hoping to show the justice system he is not the monster that the mass media has painted him to be."
Ms McGuire visited first but he had no details about the reunion, believed to be the first time the couple has seen each other for weeks.
She has been looking after the couple's daughter and her daughter Brittany alone in Athens since Mokbel's arrest.
"He's tired and very quiet. He told me he expects that he will be handled fairly in Australia," Mr Vlachos said.
"I wished him good luck – he has a long fight in front of him."
On May 15, 2008, the AFP party of up to eight personal-protection and anti-terrorist police officers, a medic and two flight crews touched down just after dark in Athens (4.15am Melbourne time) after a day-long journey from Australia in a $34 million Gulfstream IV private jet to collect Mokbel.
A large group of men walked off the plane and were picked up from the tarmac by a waiting car.
The officers, from the federal and Victorian police, were not to try to interview Mokbel on his long journey home as their sole mission was to bring him back safely.
The jet -- which cost taxpayers up to $450,000 for the trip -- taxied to an isolated cargo area of Athens International Airport.
Police and security officers patrolled the jet as Australian Federal Police waited to take custody of Mokbel.
Stationed in the cargo area, it was under constant video surveillance and is patrolled by security vehicles dozens of times an hour.
The decision to charter a private jet indicated the level of concern police had for the safety of the suspect, who many believed was prepared to implicate others, including corrupt police, in the hope of cutting a deal.
In May 2007 the Australian Government chartered a private jet, at a cost of more than $500,000, to fly terrorist suspect David Hicks from Guantanamo Bay to a South Australian prison.
Danielle Maguire, her teenage daughter, Brittany and young daughter Renate were to catch a commercial flight back to Melbourne after they were denied a seat on the jet.
But some felt there would be an initial problem as Renate was born in Greece and her birth certificate was issued with her father's name as Sydney businessman Stephen Papas — Mokbel's alias while on the run.
It was also reported that Federal authorities had drawn up secret contingency plans to ensure Mokbel was returned to Melbourne safely.
It was believed the detailed plans included three possible landing points and three secure jail drop-off options for his arrival.
Fears that Mokbel could try to escape or there could be an attempt on his life had prompted the high-security operation.
Prison authorities were put on standby and a top-security cell in Barwon Prison remained vacant for his return, but two other secure jails had been selected as alternative holding bays.
Victorian and federal authorities refused to discuss Mokbel's return on security grounds and Corrections Victoria issued a firm "no comment" on plans for its high-profile inmate.
Security was so tight that members of the Purana taskforce were not told details of his return. "We'll talk when he's back here and in a cell," a senior police source said.
Media publicity on his likely route home forced federal authorities to consider contingency plans.
 On May 16, 2008, the jet was expected to leave Athens for Melbourne.
But it was feared a strike by air traffic controllers in Greece would delay take-off by several hours.
Athens airport officials said the jet was scheduled to take off at 5pm (Melbourne time) and that the plane's crew would only need to give one hour's notice before take-off.
The air traffic controllers were due to walk off the job at 6pm for four hours in a move expected to force the cancellation of dozens of domestic and international flights from Athens.
After nearly a year in a Greek jail, he was return to a Barwon Prison cell where his routine would be mundane and he will have to come to terms with following orders rather than giving them.
He would be woken at 7.30 every morning, allowed out of his cell for a maximum of six hours a day and would be permitted one box visit a week. If he behaved he would eventually be allowed limited contact visits.
As with other high-security inmates, he would be permitted phone calls to family and lawyers but only limited contact with fellow inmates.
He would find his social network severely limited. He would be permitted to mix with a maximum of two fellow prisoners, who would be vetted by prison authorities. It was unlikely that his old ally Carl Williams, would initially be one of them.
If Mokbel decided to fight the charges, he would spend years in and out of courts. Prison authorities had bought a high-security prison transport vehicle for inmates such as Mokbel.
His hearings were to be held in a Supreme Court within the more secure County Court building.
 On May 17, 2008, Mokbel arrived home after a 21-hour flight via refuelling stopovers in the Maldives and Port Hedland in Western Australia.
.
The sleek white jet that landed in light rain just after 1pm at Tullamarine.
The word among the police on board was that Mokbel had been quiet on the flight.
After landing he was taken to a hangar at the edge of the Tullamarine tarmac.
Mokbel's arrival at Melbourne's main airport at Tullamarine surprised most observers who had expected him to land at either Avalon airport or the Point Cook RAAF base, both of which are near Barwon Prison.
As he came down the steps Mokbel was encircled by six security men amid fears, not only of an escape, but for Mokbel's life, who shuffled him across the tarmac.
Within 20 seconds, he was in the air again — for a quick helicopter ride over the western suburbs to a paddock on the flats of Lara to Barwon Prison, 70km south-west of Melbourne, near Geelong, where the prisoner was whisked into an armoured white van with tinted bulletproof windows.
The rain came down harder.
The armoured van, followed by a blue four-wheel-drive, rolled down the drive into the jail compound.
Meanwhile, another helicopter acted as a decoy to confuse the media — and any potential assassins.
The police helicopter was joined by an escort chopper at Avalon airport enroute and landed in a paddock near the prison about 1.45pm.
At Essendon Airport, an escorted police van put on a show, for the same reasons. There are people whose motives to silence Mokbel are as potent as the authorities' desire to keep him alive to testify. Victorian police were keen to talk to him to see if he can assist them with their inquiries about several matters — not least the double murder of Terence and Christine Hodson in Kew four years ago.
"Is Fat Tony in there?" said one man, peering intently, as if Australia's most famous fugitive might pop out to wave hello.
Instead, inside the prison Mokbel was appearing in an out-of-sessions hearing before a bail justice on two charges of murder, failing to appear and multiple drug trafficking charges.
Afterwards, he faced his first meal on Australian soil for 26 months — and then the first of many nights in a cell measuring just eight square metres, complete with shower, toilet and electric kettle.
That evening, as the Federal Government defended the secrecy surrounding the former fugitive's return, the policeman who orchestrated his arrest criticised the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police command for sidelining the investigators who had traced and trapped Mokbel in Greece.
The recently retired Detective Inspector Jim O'Brien told Channel Seven that the Purana taskforce members who had tracked down Australia's most wanted man in a foreign country had been "left out of the loop" by federal police.
"The very people who have led it, planned it, have driven the investigation, are directly responsible for the results, have been chosen to be left out of the loop at this crucial stage," he said.
Minister for Home Affairs Bob Debus said the secrecy and elaborate security measures were justified.
"It's not very often that we do indeed get to extradite someone of this … level of seriousness," Mr Debus told Sky News.
"Given the history of Mokbel you can understand why police wanted to have very high levels of security for their own protection, and the protection of the operation."
Mr Debus has defended the high cost of the operation — $450,000 — on grounds that it would be "neither appropriate or acceptable" that Australia should allow someone who had allegedly committed serious offences to remain at large.
He said he was "quite pleased it has all gone without a hitch in the end".
Mokbel was to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court three days later but security concerns would most likely mean his appearance would be by video link.
He would face charges relating to the deaths of Lewis Moran in 2004 and Michael Marshall in 2003.
The federal government defended the secrecy surrounding the extradition and the reported $450,000 cost for chartering the luxury jet.
Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said the government had to do all it could to pursue Mokbel, and to protect the operation to bring him back home.
"It's not very often that we do indeed get to extradite someone of this ... level of seriousness," Mr Debus told Sky News.
"Given the history of Mokbel you can understand why police wanted to have very high levels of security for their own protection, and the protection of the operation."
He said it would be not acceptable that Australian governments should allow Mokbel “to remain at large”.
Mr Debus congratulated Victorian Police and the Australian Federal Police and thanked Greek authorities for ensuring Mokbel's return.
Mr Debus said the extradition demonstrated how important international legal cooperation was.
"I understand the high level of interest in the matter but for the protection of the officers involved in Mokbel's return, no comment can be made about the logistics of the flight from Greece."
 On May 20, 2008, the Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard Mokbel trafficked drugs in Europe while on the run.
In charges tendered to the court, police alleged Mokbel trafficked a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine in Greece and 'diverse places unknown'.
He faced another charge of conspiring to traffick a commercial quantity between July 2006 and June 2007.
Mokbel was on the run for 790 days after vanishing in March 2006.
During the 20 minute hearing Mokbel's lawyers claimed he was being held unlawfully in Australia following his extradition.
Mokbel appeared in court 13 before Chief Magistrate Ian Grey via video link from Barwon Prison looking thin and tanned in an open-necked white shirt and black suit.
He sat stony-faced as he heard argument about the legality of his extradition from Greece.
A full court, which included 20 plain-clothes detectives and dozens of media, looked on as Mokbel's face was beamed into court via a one-metre-wide video screen.
He was sitting in front of a blue wall and resting his arm on a small white table in front of him.
At times, Mokbel held his head up, placing his chin between his index and middle fingers.
He spoke only briefly on two occasions. Asked if he could hear proceedings, Mokbel replied: "Yes I can your honour".
At the end of the hearing, Mr Gray asked Mokbel if he had been able to clearly see the proceedings.
"Yes I have," Mokbel said smiling.
Mr Gray then adjourned the court and Mokbel, like everyone in the court, stood up, meaning only his chest was visible on the screen.
His head became briefly visible again as he joined others in the court in the custom of nodding as the magistrate left the bench.
Mokbel's video-link to the court was then terminated.
Defence lawyer Mirko Bagaric asked for a preliminary argument to be heard on June 24 about the legality of Mokbel's extradition.
Mr Bagaric said his client should not have been moved from Greece with an appeal still pending in the European Court of Human Rights.
"By extraditing my client back while that appeal is still proceeding, the executive of this country has wantonly destroyed my client's right to an appeal," he said.
Mr Bagaric said under those circumstances Mokbel's extradition constituted an illegal act.
"It is my submission that my client is being held unlawfully in the circumstances he was brought back to Australia."
Mokbel was remanded in custody, while his criminal matters have been adjourned until August 12.
 Danielle McGuire was still in Athens with her daughters but was believed to be making arrangements to return home to Melbourne.
She had revealed the couple knew the police were closing in on them in Athens before Mokbel's capture, but she said he stayed to be with her and their baby.
In Mokbel's final phone conversation with Ms McGuire, at 10.30pm on the night before his extradition, his parting words were simple, she said.
"He said 'I'm going, I love you'," Ms McGuire said.
 Early on June 5, 2008, several raids were made
on people suspected of assisting Tony Mokbel to flee Australia in 2006.
They followed the execution of more than 50
search warrants throughout New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia in
previous months.
Search warrants were executed by the
anti-gangland Purana taskforce on three addresses in Burnside and Reservoir
around 6am as part of Operation Magnum.
The 14-month long operation targeted people who allegedly used the proceeds
of crime to assist Mokbel's escape.
A man and two women were questioned at St Kilda Rd police complex.
A 63-year-old Reservoir man was expected to be charged with trafficking a
drug of dependence, conspiracy to pervert, accessory after the fact and dealing
with the proceeds of crime.
Two Burnside women, aged 46 and 34, were both expected to be charged with
conspiracy to pervert, accessory after the fact and dealing with proceeds of
crime.
 The Herald Sun reported that police had said Mokbel was smuggled out of Australia on a private yacht in an elaborate plot
orchestrated by at least three associates.
Details of the daring 2006 escape emerged as Melbourne's gangland detectives
closed the net on three people alleged to have helped him flee.
"We're going to allege that these people assisted Mr Mokbel in certain
ways to get him out of the country,'' Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards of the
Purana Taskforce told ABC Radio.
"The assistance provided included buying a boat called the Edwena,
a 57-foot motor yacht from a Sydney businessman.''
"The boat was purchased for $350,000, there was (sic) modifications made
to the boat which included desalination units, sleeping quarters ... We believe,
with payments made to certain people, (the plot) would be in the vicinity of a
million dollars."
Det Insp Edwards said the boat sailed from Sydney to Newcastle Harbour.
"A few modifications were made on the boat, then the boat was
transported by heavy haulage across the country to Fremantle harbour (in Western
Australia),'' he said.
"The boat was sailed up to Geraldton and then across the Indian Ocean
through the Suez Canal and eventually landing in Greece.''
Det Insp Edwards said Mokbel left Australian shores on November 11, 2006,
arriving in Greece on Christmas Eve.
The man and two women arrested that morning were alleged to have helped
Mokbel by purchasing the boat, driving him to Western Australia in a four-wheel
drive, and stocking the yacht with provisions for the voyage, Det Insp Edwards
said.
"We also believe that three Greek nationals, three sailors, were
recruited and flown out to actually sail the boat back to Greece.''
Det Insp Edwards said the investigation extended across state and Australian
borders and more arrests were expected to follow.
"We believe there's any number up to 10 people involved in assisting Mr
Mokbel out of the country, there will be other people spoken to,'' he said.
Det Insp Edwards said the yacht was bought for $350,000, with more money
spent on secret modifications to conceal Mokbel inside.
The boat is believed to be moored at a marina in Greece.
John Silvester wrote in the Age that "for
him (Mokbel) the thought of skulking up a gangplank to masquerade as a foreign
sailor or hiding in a dirty cargo container to be shipped overseas was beneath
him. Mokbel, the Ferrari-driving,
penthouse-dwelling millionaire, always went first class - and when he slipped
out of the country it would be no different."
According to the Purana anti-gangland taskforce, Mokbel left Australia in the
way he thought befitted his lifestyle - on the deck of a luxury yacht with his
specially imported crew sailing more than 12,000 kilometres to Athens.
While there were exotic theories that he had planned his disappearance for
months and flew out of Australia in comfort, the truth was Mokbel only decided
to run a few days before he disappeared and had no time to organise an escape
route.
The best he could do was lean on a mate, George Elias, to stay at his Bonnie
Doon house. As police made inquiries in a multitude of exotic ports, including
Dubai, Paris and Rome, Mokbel was rugged up near Lake Eildon, watching daytime
television and planning his next move - and it would be a big one.
While Mokbel had lost his freedom he still had two important tradeable
assets: plenty of friends and loads of cash.
He would leave Australia as a departing captain, not as a fleeing fugitive.
The idea of abandoning the stressful Melbourne underworld and the annoying
Purana taskforce by way of a relaxing sea cruise attracted Mokbel, even if his
nautical experience was limited to buzzing around on one of his top-of-the-range
jet-skis.
Late on the afternoon of
June 5, 2008, two people accused of helping Mokbel
flee appeared in court.
Angela Verykios (now
Nissirios), 46, of Burnside, and
Bassillios (Byron) Pantazis, 62, of
Reservoir, appeared briefly before Magistrate Felicity Broughton, where they
were remanded until September.
Mr Pantazis was charged with nine offences, including intent to pervert the
course of justice, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, accessory after
the fact, trafficking methylamphetamine, possession of methylamphetamine and
dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Ms Nissirios had been charged with intent to pervert the course of justice,
conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, accessory after the fact and
dealing with the proceeds of crime knowing the property was the proceeds of
crime.
 Ms Nissirios was tearful during the hearing.
Bob Galbally, for Mr Pantazis, said his client suffered serious physical
ailments and takes about eight medications each day. He had an operation on his
legs 10 days ago.
Neither applied for bail but their lawyers indicated both would apply for
bail in the future.
The Supreme Court was told that Mokbel's trusted ally Byron Pantazis was
in charge of the escape plan. He allegedly flew to Greece to meet a contact,
Theodore Angelakis, and the pair had recruited four Greek sailors to help them
execute Operation Tony.
The sailors arrived in Sydney in September 2006 and purchased a 17.3-metre
yacht, the Edwena, through a broker for $350,000. Sturdy and built in 1988, it
seemed perfect: sound enough for a long trip but not ostentatious enough to draw
unwanted attention.
The selling owner, Edward Byrne, said the buyers told him they would change
the sail locker into a cabin with a toilet for two crew and they would create a
second bathroom so it could be used as a cruise vessel in Greece.
"As far as I was aware, they were going to sail it around the south
coast to Perth then to Greece," he said.
Mr Byrne knew the boat was up to the task as it had twice sailed around the
world.
It was transferred to the ownership of a Mokbel front company and sailed to
Newcastle, where it was pulled out of the water and loaded onto a heavy truck.
For six days the wide-load truck moved slowly through three states - NSW,
South Australia and Western Australia - only travelling in daylight and
accompanied by pilot cars front and rear equipped with signs and flashing
lights. It was hardly a discreet operation.
Finally it was slipped back into the water and sailed to the Customs Jetty at
the Fremantle Sailing Club.
There three Greek sailors (the fourth apparently having headed home) readied
the craft for an ocean voyage.
Locals soon realised money appeared to be no object as they spent $70,000 in
days.
They bought new generators, an auto-pilot, sails, a desalination unit, fuel
containers and Zodiac life-craft. They also bought a special toilet that was
fitted in the bow of the craft.
Police would later find the toilet was to be for the exclusive use of the
crew's VIP passenger. It was Tony's throne.
The Greeks told Customs they were setting sail for the Seychelles on November
11 and there was no reason to disbelieve them. Only the cynical would have
noticed they had purchased four state-of-the-art life-jackets for the three-man
crew. And only the superstitious would have noticed the name of the yacht -
Edwena - means "rich friend".
Meanwhile, Mokbel's team hired two vehicles from the Preston Budget office
and Mokbel was driven across the country. The vehicles were dropped off in Perth
on November 12.
Police believe that Mokbel was loaded onto the yacht along the WA coast
between Perth and Geraldton, possibly by the Zodiac, and with the prevailing
winds headed to Greek waters via the Maldives and the Suez Canal.
There is little doubt that during the voyage of more than 40 days and 40
nights, Mokbel came to regret his bravado. Police have been told he was
violently seasick every day. Tony's throne, it would seem, was made to work
overtime,
He disembarked in Greek waters on Christmas Eve to rediscover his land legs,
believing he was finally free.
He was wrong. Mokbel's new life in Greece was good, but there was trouble
back home, where some of his closest associates began to jump ship and make
statements to Purana. The Supreme Court yesterday granted a restraining order to
stop the boat being sold while criminal charges are pending against Mokbel and a
registered co-owner, Angela Verykios, Pantazis' sister-in-law.
The pair are accused of being key players in the plot to smuggle Mokbel out
of Australia, which police believe cost about $1 million.
That evening, Byron Pantazis' daughter, Yvonne Warfe, 34, of Burnside, appeared in an
out-of-sessions hearing charged with perverting, conspiracy to
pervert and accessory after the fact.
Two other men, George Elias and Chafic Issa, were charged in their prison
cells.
Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards said: "My team at Purana conducted a
brilliant investigation. They've come across this in relation to different
proceeds of crime and they followed it right through."
He said police had executed 50 warrants in WA, NSW and Queensland in the
weeks preceding thes arrests.
On June 6, 2008, Rod
Collins, then 63 and of Northcote, was arrested and questioned by police over the execution-style killing of a
husband and wife more than 20 years before.
Petra Taskforce detectives arrested Collins in relation to
the double killing of Ramon Abbey, 40, and Dorothy Abbey, 39, who were
shot in their West Heidelberg home in July 1987.
Detective Superintendent Jack Blayney said Collins was connected to underworld identities.
"What I can say is there are connections between the man
we arrested today and other underworld identities,'' he said.
"It was referred to the taskforce in April 2007, to
review it.''
Detective Superintendent Blayney said information was received
from a Purana investigation.
"It relates specifically to another investigation (and)
there are some connections,'' he said.
Detective Superintendent Blayney said the double
murder was extremely callous.
"They were both put into a position where they were shot
in the head from behind in circumstances where it was extremely callous,''
Detective Superintendent Blayney said.
"We have a motive but that's something we'll leave for
the courts,'' Detective Inspector Blayney said.
"There was more than one offender involved in this
homicide, however two of those others have since passed away.''
Collins came to the attention of Purana taskforce detectives investigating Melbourne's gangland killings.
He escaped going to jail in February 2004 after allegedly being caught with a loaded semi-automatic gun.
A Herald Sun death notice after Jason Moran's 2003 murder read:
''Thirty pieces of silver. Respect to all the poor little kiddies. Mick Gatto (The Don), Rod Collins, Benji, Carl Williams and Dad, Victor Brincat, Alfie. Lest we forget. 2003''
It was not known if the letter was genuine.
Victor Brincat, Carl Williams and "Alfie" Traglia were later charged with Moran's murder and "Benji" Veniamin was suspected of being involved in several others before he was shot dead by Mick Gatto in March 2004.
Collins, also known as Rod "The Duke" Earl, is closely linked to Tony
Mokbel and was under investigation over a similar case connected to Melbourne's underworld war.
Collins was arrested by detectives from Taskforce Petra - the unit set up to investigate the murders of police informer Terence Hodson and his wife Christine.
Collins was living with Joan McGuire, whose daughter Danielle is Tony Mokbel's partner.
Police say Collins is part of Mokbel's extended family.
The Petra taskforce had been investigating links between Mokbel and Collins.
Police allege the Abbeys were killed as part of a failed drug rip-off after three men went to the house believing the couple had cash and heroin hidden in a safe in their garden shed. But they were wrong and the safe was empty.
One of the alleged team, Mark Andrew McConville, was initially found guilty of the murders but the conviction was overturned and he was acquitted at the retrial. He has since died. A second man involved has also died.
Police will allege that Collins was the gunman who killed the Abbeys. They will also allege he tortured Mrs Abbey and cut her throat.
Detectives believe the Abbeys knew their killers. Police also believe the Hodsons knew theirs.
While police would not publicly confirm links between the Abbey murders and the Hodson case, they acknowledge potential connections to ongoing investigations.
Detective Superintendent Jack Blayney, of the crime department, said: "What I can say is that there are connections between the man we've arrested with other key underworld identities.
"It relates specifically to another investigation we are conducting. There are some connections with (anti-gangland taskforce) Purana."
Collins has also been nominated as a suspect in the gangland murder of Mario Condello, who was shot dead in the garage of his Brighton home on February 6, 2006. He has also been listed as a suspect in several unsolved murders from the 1980s.
Superintendent Blayney said the Abbey murder investigation was reopened in April 2008.
"When we talk about execution-style killing, they were both put in a position where they were shot in the head from behind in circumstances where it was an extremely callous and calculating act," he said.
Taskforce Petra was set up to investigate the Hodson murders last year after detectives received new evidence linking the murders to police corruption.
Terence Hodson was a police informer and had agreed to give evidence against two drug squad detectives. Confidential police documents exposing him as a police informer were leaked to the underworld before he was murdered.
Mokbel is expected to eventually be questioned over the Hodson double killing and his links to Collins.
There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the Hodson murders.
Damon Abbey was five years old when his parents were killed but he remembers being awake in the house when they were murdered. Also in the house were his two elder sisters Elicia and Stacey.
"We have all been involved in the investigation. We've helped in terms of what we can remember of the events."
He said he "knew of the person" arrested over the murders.
Collins was remanded in custody to reappear on September 26.
 Early on the morning of June 12, 2008, Danielle McGuire arrived in Melbourne on an international flight from Greece.
She was accompanied by daughters Renate and Brittany.
McGuire was escorted from Melbourne Airport by police before visiting her mum and leaving with a local heavy.
While a large media contingent was waiting for her to speak on arrival, Ms McGuire attempted to avoid attention with the help of Australian Federal Police officers.
The AFP confirmed it had ushered Ms McGuire out a separate exit to protect her and others.
"The AFP can confirm that AFP assisted a woman and two children with safe passage through a customs side door adjacent to the public exit," an AFP spokeswoman said.
"Due to the large media contingent within the terminal it was considered appropriate to escort the passenger through the side exit, in line with the AFP’s duty of care to ensure the safety of all passengers in the airport."
Later in the morning, there was high tension outside the West Footscray flat of Ms McGuire's mother, Joan Madin, as a man emerged from a nearby fortified house to threaten and abuse waiting media camped outside.
Ms McGuire had come to visit her mother at her Housing Commission flat for about two hours.
“Get going, get going. I mean get going. You got no right,'' the man yelled at reporters and cameramen.
“Don't ever ... come to my place.''
A car carrying a person in the back seat with a towel over their head - believed to be Ms McGuire - drove away a short time later in a dark Holden Commodore.
She will now need the permission of Corrections Victoria to visit Mokbel, the Herald Sun reported.
On June 12, 2008, a sixth person faced court accused of helping Tony Mokbel jump bail.
Spiros Katos, 50, was charged with intent to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and accessory after the fact to cocaine importation.
He was also charged unlawfully assisting Mokbel to flee the jurisdiction while on bail.
Katos was remanded in custody and ordered to face court on September 20 for a committal mention. He did not apply for bail.
He was charged following an interview with Purana taskforce detectives at the St Kilda Road police complex, after which he faced an out-of-sessions hearing at St Kilda Road.
On June 13, 2008, it was reported that Tony
Mokbel's lawyer said his client was short of cash for legal costs, as prosecutors sought to quiz more witnesses.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions applied to interview the witnesses, understood to be lawyers that had previously acted for Mokbel.
The Melbourne Magistrates Court was told each of the witnesses concerned had declined prosecution requests to make a statement.
Commonwealth prosecutor Daniel Gurvich said the hearing of the application should occur before Mokbel's criminal matters are put before the court in a committal mention set for August.
“The matters date back some years. There is some appropriate desire to have the matter heard as soon as possible,'' he said.
However, Mokbel's lawyer Bill Doogue said the court should first hear an application by Mokbel's legal team to have his case stayed on the grounds he was extradited illegally.
Mr Doogue said he was present in court “under sufferance'' because that application should be determined first.
“There is necessary haste at this point,'' he said.
“My client is in custody, he's got limited funds, we can't afford to be coming to mentions.''
Under the section 56a application under the Magistrates Court Act, the court may make an order requiring a person to attend court to be examined by the prosecution, produce a document or other evidence or both.
Mr Doogue said he would need further instructions from his client in relation to the bid to quiz witnesses.
Magistrate Phillip Goldberg ordered the parties return to court next month to further discuss the application.
A brief of evidence was served on Mokbel's legal team later in the day.
 On June 16, 2008, the Herald Sun reported that Racing Victoria's chief steward had revealed seven trainers and jockeys had been warned about associating with Tony Mokbel.
Des Gleeson would not name the seven Victorian and interstate trainers and jockeys, but described them as "high profile".
The chief steward said he spoke to the licensed people between 1999 and 2004, addressing most of them in 2000 and 2001.
Mr Gleeson said he had to speak to a couple of them more than once.
"We received intelligence and we thought the best course of action would be to be proactive," Mr Gleeson said.
"We spoke to several jockeys and trainers, and some on more than one occasion, as a proactive measure.
"The information we received back was that clearly it had an effect."
Asked if it was alleged the jockeys and trainers had received money from Mokbel, Mr Gleeson replied: "No. If we had that information, we would have done more than just spoken to them.
"It was just intelligence, and we have an obligation to protect the image and integrity of racing.
"If we get information about something that has the potential to impact on the image and integrity of racing, we are duty-bound to speak to those people and nip it in the bud. And that's what we did."
Asked if one of those jockeys was Sydney jockey Jimmy Cassidy, Mr Gleeson said: "I don't want to comment on any individuals.
"I can't comment on any of the people, because it was of a confidential nature, and the information we received wasn't cold, hard facts."
It was reported on Saturday that Cassidy allegedly received $50,000 from Mokbel for providing tips and information.
Cassidy declined to comment.
Mr Gleeson said after the "talk", stewards received no more information of the jockeys and trainers associating with Mokbel.
"The intelligence we subsequently received (was) that it did have the desired effect," he said.
The Melbourne Cup-winning jockey's possible links to Mokbel were first reported in 2001.
Cassidy said at the time he didn't know whether he had been recorded talking to Mokbel on taped phone intercepts during a police taskforce investigation into Mokbel's activities.
Five years later, Cassidy confirmed his close friendship with Mokbel in the Herald Sun when Mokbel was on the run.
"I've got nothing but respect for him," he said in October that year.
"What he did in his personal life was none of my business, but as a person he was fantastic to me."
On June 24, 2008, a stay application was heard in Melbourne Magistrates' Court as Mokbel looked to make a fresh bid in the Supreme Court to stop criminal charges against him.
The case was to be moved to the higher jurisdiction and be heard on July 3.
The complaint was that he should not have been removed from Greece while an appeal was pending in the European Court of Human Rights.
Mokbel appeared via videolink for the brief hearing.
Chief Magistrate Ian Gray remanded Mokbel to appear at the hearing the following week.
 On June 24, 2008, one of the women accused of helping smuggle Mokbel out of the country was whisked from court after being granted bail.
Angela Nissirios appeared briefly in Melbourne Magistrates' Court where prosecutors did not oppose her bail application.
Ms Nissirios, also known as Angela Verykios, was charged with intent to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, accessory after the fact and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Police claim Ms Nissirios was one of the registered owners of the the $350,000 yacht the Edwena, which Mokbel allegedly sailed to Greece after skipping bail.
Magistrate Amanda Chambers granted Ms Nissirios bail on conditions including reporting to police twice a week, surrendering her passport and not leaving Victoria without police consent.
Afterwards, she was quickly rushed out of court to avoid a media pack awaiting her release from the custody centre.
The centre's managers, GEO Group Australia, said its officers had acted under police direction.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Cassie Stone said Ms Nissirios was "assisted from the premises for security reasons".
Ms Nissirios, of Burnside, was to appear in court again in September.
On July 2, 2008, Kabalan and Milad Mokbel appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court charged with trafficking methylamphetamine.
They were charged on June 30 and appeared via videolink from Barwon Prison.
Kabalan Mokbel had been charged with trafficking and conspiring to traffic a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine at Pascoe Vale South between August 2001 and February 2002.
He was also charged with conspiring with Tony Mokbel and another person to traffic a commercial quantity of amphetamine between August 2001 and February 2002.
Milad Mokbel had been charged with trafficking a large comercial quantity of methylamphetamine at McCrae between May and September 2002.
Magistrate Jon Klestadt remanded the men to appear in court again in September.
On
July 3, 2008, it was reported that prosecutors wanted Tony Mokbel to appear in a criminal court to argue his case that he was extradited from Greece illegally.
Mark Dean, SC, for the Commonwealth that to hear argument about the extradition in a civil court would "fragment" the criminal proceedings.
Mokbel's lawyers were seeking a permanent stay of the charges their client faces on the basis that his extradition from Greece wa illegal because his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was pending.
Mirko Bagaric, for Mokbel, said this argument should be dealt with before any trial.
But Mr Dean told Justice David Ashley such a move was "fordeoomed to fail".
It was unusual for a civil court to interfere with the criinal justice process, he said, and the argument should be decided by the trial judge.
Justice Ashley adjourned the matter to late August, when another judge will hear and determie it.
On July 8, 2008, it was reported that Renate Mokbel would admit to telling lies over her assets and the $1 million surety she gave for her brother-in-law's bail.
Renate Mokbel is serving two years' jail for failing to pay the cash when Mokbel fled overseas in 2006.
Ms Mokbel was charged with perjury after it was revealed that she never owned the luxury Brunswick home she used as the bail surety.
She signed Mokbel's bail undertaking in November 2004, swearing on oath she was the owner of the Downs St property worth about $1.1 million.
But the home is owned by a family trust, JR Mokbel Pty Ltd - and had been frozen by court order, meaning she could not sell it to repay the money when Mokbel skipped bail.
Ms Mokbel was also accused of lying about her assets at the Supreme Court hearing where she applied to revoke an order for her to repay the surety.
Affidavits filed for the hearing listing her assets failed to mention cash and jewellery she and husband Milad gave her uncle, Gary James Gibbs, to "look after" at his Parkdale home.
Police dug up $336,700 in cash hidden inside plastic pipes, 18 watches and 33 boxes of jewellery worth $185,000 from the uncle's garden.
Supreme Court Justice Bill Gillard ordered her to spend two years behind bars if she did not come up with the $1 million.
She was taken into custody in March last year to begin serving the sentence.
The mother of three was charged with five counts of perjury and one of perverting the course of justice, but is expected to plead to two counts of perjury.
Mokbel's lawyer, Zarah Garde-Wilson, told the County Court that her client wanted the case to be heard as quickly as possible.
Garde-Wilson said she would be asking for "full concurrency" with the term Ms Mokbel is already serving.
Mokbel was ordered to return to court next week.
On July 17, 2008, Renate Mokbel admitted to lying about her assets in a brief court appearance.
Ms Mokbel pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury.
Ms Mokbel appeared via videolink from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.
Before County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes, Ms Mokbel pleaded guilty to falsely swearing an affidavit in June, 2006, in which she said her major assets were the Brunswick property, a property in Kilmore and two Mercedes and that monthly loan repayments on the Kilmore property were being paid by another man.
She also pleaded guilty to falsely swearing that the affidavit was a complete list of her assets in the Supreme Court on August 1.
Ms Mokbel was to have a pre-sentencing hearing in the County Court in September.
On July 29, 2008, it was reported that prosecutors were moving to block a bid by Tony Mokbel to have fresh charges against him stayed.
Mokbel appeared in a Melbourne court via video to answer an application by the commonwealth to speed up his court proceedings.
Commonwealth prosecutor Mark Dean SC told the Victorian Practice Court an application by the Crown to strike out Mokbel's request to halt his criminal proceedings, until his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is finalised, should be heard quickly.
A hearing for the strike-out application was already scheduled for August 25.
Mr Bagaric said he was only notified of the purpose of today's proceeding about 10 minutes before he entered court.
But Mr Dean said the matter needed to be heard urgently so a magistrates' court mention of Mokbel's charges listed for August 4 could proceed.
He described Mokbel's application to halt his Australian proceedings as "exceptional" and "extraordinary".
Mr Bagaric confirmed he would not be presenting any new evidence at this stage in relation to the illegal extradition claim.
"I found out about the nature of this proceeding at 10.20am," Mr Bagaric said.
He said his client could not afford to come to court every time the prosecution had a new application to make.
"My client has finite resources," Mr Bagaric said.
"It is very important that these matters are dealt with as expeditiously and economically as possible."
Justice Simon Whelan ruled the application should proceed on August 25.
He promised to notify the parties if an earlier date could be found.
Mr Bagaric has argued his client is being held in Australia unlawfully because he returned to Australia from Greece before his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was finalised.
He has previously sought Supreme Court orders prohibiting the continuation of his Australian proceedings.
Mokbel wore his trademark black suit jacket with a white collared shirt unbuttoned around the neck.
On
August 2, 2008, Mokbel hired a high-profile
criminal defender to avoid a life behind bars.
Mokbel and Danielle McGuire replaced lawyer Bill Doogue with Robert
Stary, whose clients have included
Jack Thomas, G20 rioters and members of an alleged terror-plot ring.
Mr Stary, who runs a specialist city firm of 12
criminal defence lawyers, also acted for murdered underworld police informant
Terence Hodson and his wife, Christine.
Mr Stary already has pledged to fight any
attempt by Channel 9 to screen banned drama Underbelly in Melbourne
and wants any Mokbel trial delayed one or two years until prejudicial hype
dies down and the hearing can be fair.
He said Mokbel would remain in jail during any
delay.
"My role is to ensure he gets a fair
trial, if he can - if that is possible in the current environment," Mr
Stary said
"You would have to have been living on
another planet not to know he has received adverse publicity. That's a very
live issue."
Mr Stary said he would vehemently oppose any
application by Channel 9 to broadcast Underbelly, even if the Mokbel
character were disguised or edited out.
Any broadcast of Underbelly would
"absolutely subvert his right to a fair trial".
"The sooner those people who would promote
their commercial interests understand that the criminal justice system ought
to be seen as paramount, then Tony Mokbel's trials will be progressed and he
will be found guilty or not guilty according to the facts," Mr Stary
said.
Mr Stary said he would continue McGuire's fight
for security clearance to visit Mokbel.
"No one has escaped from Barwon let alone
the prison within the prison," he said.
On
August 4, 2008, the nephew of Tony Mokbel was fined $1000 for pushing over a 73-year-old woman after a Frankston car crash.
Frankston Magistrates' Court was told James Mattar, 21, -- the son of Mokbel's sister -- got out of his car and verbally abused the woman after the Nepean Highway collision in which his car was written off.
He then pushed the woman to the ground.
Prosecutor Sen-Constable Karen Molloy said Rosa Bardos suffered grazed elbows and shock after being assaulted by Mr Mattar at 8.15am on March 4.
Sen-Constable Molloy said Mr Mattar told police he lashed out at the woman because he was in shock after her car hit his vehicle.
Mr Mattar, of Keysborough, pleaded guilty to one charge of unlawful assault.
His lawyer, Zarah Garde-Wilson, told the court her client's behaviour was totally out of character and that he had no criminal history. She asked that he be released on a good behaviour bond.
Magistrate Frank Hodgens said Mr Mattar's conduct was unacceptable and a promise of good behaviour was not enough. He fined Mr Mattar without conviction.
Outside the court, Mr Mattar said he was very sorry for his actions after the accident.
"I think the magistrate handed down a just punishment," he said.
"Obviously you feel some remorse and you move on. My lawyer did a good job."
He said he did not understand the media attention about his case and it was "just a minor incident". On
August 5, 2008, the Herald Sun reported that Mokbel's drug trafficking charges
had been adjourned until the following month.
Mokbel appeared briefly via a video link to Melbourne Magistrates' Court.
His new solicitor Rob Stary told the court he had just taken over the case and needed time to prepare.
Magistrate Phillip Goldberg adjourned the charges until September.
 On
August 12, 2008, the Whitehorse Leader's Elise Kinsella wrote that "when
the public thinks of Tony Mokbel it is not
usually as a victim of bullying".
But that was the reason Deakin University's law professor, and
Mokbel's barrister, Mirko Bagaric (left), gave the Leader for taking on
the highest-profile case of his career thus far.
"I hate seeing someone being bullied, and as strange as it might
sound with Tony, I felt specially early on he was being bullied,"
Prof Bagaric said.
The bullying Prof Bagaric feels Mokbel who is facing two murder
charges and a string of drug charges faced was the public comments
politicians and police made after he was charged with drug offences in
2007.
"I thought it was wrong that senior police were parading the
picture of him in the wig like a prized scalp," he said. "It
was as if all the rules were thrown out in this case because he was a
Mokbel."
Prof Bagaric heads Deakin University Law School, where he teaches at
the Burwood campus as well as running his own part-time legal practice.
Prof Bagaric said his interest in Mokbel's case began as a casual
legal interest, but that he elected to take on Mokbel as a client when
he got a memorable phone call last year.
"He phoned me from Greece I was surprised at first because I
didn't think he had access to telephones from jail in Greece," he
said.
He has since represented Mokbel in the latter's fight against
extradition from Greece to Australia and will also represent his client
at the European Court of Human Rights, where Mokbel will again challenge
his extradition.
Prof Bagaric will also be front and centre when Mokbel faces the
Melbourne Magistrates' Court at a date to be set.
Tony Mokbel paper danger in Barwon Prison cell
Augusut 13, 2008
Tony
Mokbel will study the case against him on computer after the large paper
brief of evidence against him was deemed a fire risk.
Lawyer Grace Morgan has asked for briefs of
evidence against Mokbel to be given to him on computer discs instead of
paper due to tight prison rules.
She said her client should be allowed to
view them on a computer inside his Barwon Prison cell.
Mokbel, 42, appeared in the Melbourne
Magistrates' Court via videolink yesterday to face charges of murder and
drug trafficking.
Ms Morgan said it was difficult getting
evidence to her client because prison authorities had said there was too
much paper in his cell.
She said the prison had deemed the
24-volume brief of evidence a fire hazard and told her to find another way
to deliver evidence.
"He will need to have access to this
(evidence) in order for us to proceed with this matter," Ms Morgan
said.
"We are having a bit of difficulty
getting copies of the brief to the defendant in relation to prison
regulations on fire safety."
The court heard efforts were being made to
convert the briefs of evidence into electronic form.
Prosecutor Vicky Prapas said she had spoken
to the police informant who was having the documents made into files that
could be viewed on a computer.
Magistrate Jelena Popovic noted that
accused persons in another case before the court had received the evidence
against them on a CD.
Mokbel's charges include the murders of
underworld figures Lewis Moran and Michael Marshall in 2004.
He is also charged with trafficking and
conspiring to traffic large commercial quantities of methylamphetamine in
Melbourne, Greece and other locations between July 5, 2006 and June 5,
2007.
The hearing was adjourned until October 13.
An application for the charges against
Mokbel to be permanently stayed will be heard later this month.
|
The
Tony Mokbel arrest
At 6.30pm (Melbourne time) on
June 5, 2007, Tony
Mokbel was arrested at an Athens cafe.
