<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tony Mokbel's barrister has slammed prosecutors after they asked for more time to decide whether to retry the gangland figure on a drug importation charge.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mokbel, 60, is facing a retrial over the alleged 2005 offending, dubbed Orbital, after the Victorian Court of Appeal set aside his conviction in the aftermath of the Lawyer X saga.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His lawyers in November applied for the proceedings to be discontinued, with the Director of Public Prosecutions indicating they would need some time to consider the matter.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/jacinta-allan-husband-drink-driving-victorian-premier-license-disqualified-crime-news/ed70752d-5faf-44b1-a363-f19a96c1b6e9" target="_blank"><strong><span>Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan reveals husband charged with drink driving after fender bender</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prosecutor Simon Thomas today told the Supreme Court the director still needed until mid-February to decide because the case was complicated.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mokbel's barrister Julie Condon KC criticised the delay, saying it was completely unacceptable.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It is very unfortunate given the delay that has tainted this matter," Condon said.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/mokbel-sorry-saga-drags-on-as-retrial-left-in-limbo/2c2dda4f-2ce9-45ff-b01e-9b14578f58b9" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The line has to be drawn in the sand somewhere."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's alleged Mokbel dealt with two undercover officers in June 2005, believing they were international MDMA suppliers, and tried to import 100kg of the drug.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Condon said it was not a complicated matter for the director to consider, noting the alleged offending only spanned two weeks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mokbel had also effectively served the jail sentence that was originally imposed, the barrister added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She urged judicial registrar Tim Freeman to adjourn the case to the next possible date, saying her client was keen to have the "sorry saga" come to an end.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Freeman agreed the case needed to progress at the next hearing, either through the director discontinuing the charge or setting down dates towards a retrial.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The case was adjourned to February 6, with Mokbel's bail extended to that date.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-shooting-investigations-continue-into-terrorist-father-and-son-phillipines-trip/44fb98ca-1bb0-484d-b790-5b895d7a633a" target="_blank"><strong><span>New details emerge about Sajid and Naveed Akram's Philippines trip</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His bail conditions were also varied to allow him to head to Queensland for a three-week holiday over the New Year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mokbel, who was supported by his girlfriend, did not speak to reporters as he left the court today.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The 60-year-old had launched an appeal against his three drug convictions, arguing they were tainted by barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo, known as Lawyer X.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He successfully quashed his Quills drug trafficking conviction in October, with the appeal justices finding he had suffered a substantial miscarriage of justice because of Gobbo's actions in secretly providing information to police.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His Orbital importation charge was set aside but the judges ordered a retrial after accepting there still could have been a fair trial if a witness's tainted statement was excluded.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mokbel lost his appeal on the Magnum drug trafficking offence, finding he had fallen short of establishing there was a real question as to his guilt.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He was re-sentenced on that charge to time already served.</span></div></div>