Lawyer on Vic heist laundering charge

A Melbourne lawyer has been charged with money laundering following a $4 million armoured van robbery almost 20 years ago.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Steve Fontana said police believe the lawyer handled some of the proceeds of the so-called "road gang" robbery.

Up to five people are sought over the robbery, in which four people posing as road workers stopped the Armaguard van on the Monash Freeway at Richmond on June 23, 1994.

They later escaped in two getaway cars with $4 million.

Mr Fontana said the lawyer, who he would not identify, was charged last week and police are confident they can still trace the stolen money.

"We have charged someone with money laundering offences and we believe that we know where a substantial amount of that money went," he said on Monday.

Purana anti-gangland detectives are now investigating at least one former Armaguard employee over their possible involvement in the robbery, Mr Fontana said.

"We also believe that it was an inside job.

"Armaguard certainly suspected one of their employees was involved, so we are having a close look at that."

He said police gathered a great deal of really good intelligence at the time, along with many calls to Crime Stoppers. He described the case as very solvable.

"It's quite clear that a number of the offenders have been identified and nominated during that particular investigation," he said.

"We believe that the criminals involved in this were very well organised and very sophisticated and a number of the names indicated that they are gangland-type individuals."

Armaguard recently offered a $100,000 reward for information about the "road gang" robbery.

Police are seeking a man and a woman who they say attended a bank in Melbourne's CBD on August 19, 1994, with part of the proceeds from the robbery.

The pair became spooked and left the bank, which Mr Fontana would not identify, leaving behind some of the money. Images of the two were captured on closed circuit cameras.

"We believe that identifying those two individuals will provide us a lot more strength in terms of leads," Mr Fontana said.

Mr Fontana said police did not believe the road gang robbery was a one-off and urged anyone with information to phone Crime Stoppers.

"This was very well planned. It was violent.

"These offenders were armed with weapons, firearms.

"They were very confident and brazen in terms of setting up roadworks at the time, so the planning and sophistication that went into it was exceptional."