Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel has broken his silence, claiming barrister-turned-informant Nicola Gobbo encouraged him to flee to Greece to evade murder charges.

Mokbel, 58, is giving evidence in the Victorian Supreme Court on Tuesday as he tries to appeal drug trafficking and incitement to import charges he was sentenced for in 2012.

He told the court Ms Gobbo told him to “seriously think” about absconding while he was awaiting trial in 2006 on separate cocaine trafficking charges.

Mokbel said Ms Gobbo warned him the gangland-focused Purana Taskforce was about to charge him with three counts of murder.

The drug kingpin claimed he didn’t care about the impending murder charges because he knew it wasn’t true and he wasn’t involved.

But in March 2006, Mokbel absconded to Greece, days out from his trial starting.

He was eventually arrested in Greece in June 2007 but it took 11 months to extradite him back to Australia.

During his evidence on Tuesday, Mokbel said he “fully trusted” Ms Gobbo and told her everything about his cases.

“I thought she was the staunchest person on earth,” he told the court.

Mokbel was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012 for the drug trafficking charges, as a result of police operations dubbed Quills, Orbital and Magnum.

But that sentence was cut down to 26 years with a non-parole period of 20 years following a Court of Appeal decision in 2023.

Mokbel is now challenging the convictions but before a substantive appeal hearing can start, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton needs to rule on a number of legal questions.

The justice has been brought down from NSW to oversee the determination hearings, which are expected to run for 12 weeks.

Mokbel’s evidence will continue on Tuesday afternoon.

– AAP