Victoria Police committed a fraud on the criminal justice system by not properly swearing affidavits, the barrister applying to change drug kingpin Tony Mokbel's plea has said.
Mokbel, 46, has applied to change to not guilty his guilty pleas to three charges of trafficking large commercial quantities of ecstasy and speed.
His taxpayer-funded lawyers plan to use a legal loophole created by admissions from a Victorian policeman - that affidavits are not sworn or affirmed properly by police - to argue Mokbel should be permitted to change his plea.
But prosecutors have described the change of plea application as a "fishing expedition" and said Mokbel knew what he was pleading guilty to in April.
They say his application to change his plea is speculative, hopeless and should be thrown out.
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Mokbel's barrister Peter Faris QC told the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday the affidavit revelations meant Victoria Police had given him a "fraudulent brief" of evidence against Mokbel.
"This is really a fraud on the criminal justice system by the Victoria Police," Mr Faris said.
Mr Faris asked that, if the affidavits were sworn correctly, why prosecutors couldn't simply get statements from police saying they were sworn correctly and bring them to court.
"This attempt by (prosecutor) Mr (Peter) Kidd to shut out any investigation reeks of suspicion," he said.
Mr Kidd told the court Mokbel pleaded guilty of his own free will and the strength of the case against him was irrelevant.
He said at the highest, Mokbel was complaining about a lost opportunity to have evidence excluded.
"(Mokbel is saying) 'I didn't realise I could have some evidence excluded that would weaken the Crown case'. That does not mean that when he pleaded guilty he did not understand what he was doing," he said.
Mr Kidd said Mokbel had engaged in a "fishing expedition" and it was a "hopeless" application.
Justice Simon Whelan adjourned the application after Mr Faris indicated he needed more time to until October 28.
The taxpayer-funded Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) is bankrolling Mokbel's legal fees for the application.
The organisation said in a statement it was funding Mokbel's application because his assets had been confiscated.
VLA acting managing director, Saul Holt, said VLA applied the same robust and unbiased processes to everyone who applied for legal aid.
"Legal aid saves the community money because unrepresented people can take up more court time and resources," he said in a statement.
Mokbel is facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on each charge of trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs.
He became one of Australia's most wanted men when he fled Australia in 2006 during a drug trafficking trial.
He was arrested in 2007 at an Athens cafe and was extradited from Greece in 2008.
Mokbel's matters will again be in court on Thursday with a mention hearing relating to the confiscation of his assets.
