‘How many police cars could you put on the road for that?’: The shocking sum the Lawyer X debacle cost taxpayers

The mess around gangland lawyer turned police informant, Nicola Gobbo, has cost taxpayers $12 million dollars, according to figures reported by The Age.

Almost $2 million has been spent on Ms Gobbo’s legal fees to try and keep her name suppressed, police spent $3.4 million trying to suppress her name, and the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants has cost $6.5 million so far.

Police are running up $32,000 a day defending themselves at the royal commission, which resumes today.

Neil Mitchell said the cost is excessive.

“They say it was necessary to protect her from danger. Maybe now they’re protecting their officers from embarrassment,” the 3AW Mornings host said.

“How many police cars could you put on the road for that? How many breath tests? How many crooks caught?”

He hit out at the police management of the case.

“Alarm bells were ignored and the atrocity was compounded.

“This is no small amount of public money, $12 million dollars in a police force that’s often stretched,” he said.

“Somebody in Victoria Police is going to have to answer to this eventually.”